The decomposing body of a nine-year-old girl, Boipelo Sesele, was found stuffed in the wardrobe of a neighbour, who helped search for her, after she went missing at Kroonstad, Gelukkwaarts in Free State, South Africa.
The Grade 4 pupil was last seen while playing with her friends in the street not far from her home on September 1, 2020, at about 1.00pm, IOL reports.
According to her six-year-old friend, whom she was playing with at the time of her disappearance, Selele had been lured by a man to “look for change at the shops.”
Her disappearance prompted a huge search mission, which lasted for twelve days.
Police spokesperson, Brigadier Sam Makhele, said members of the community, who had been assisting the police with the search, went to investigate a bad smell coming from a shack near the missing girl’s home on September 12, after other children had raised an alarm.
Makhele said the children had complained of the “bad smell from a shack not far from Boipelo’s home. They went to the shack and found it locked, forced entry and opened the wardrobe, where the smell was coming from and found the body of Boipelo, then alerted the police,” he said.
Neighbours attacked the owner of the shack when he arrived at the scene, according to him. He added that police officers who had attempted to step in were also attacked.
“Ultimately, they managed to take him out of this volatile situation, but was later declared dead by the emergency medical service,” he added.
A community leader, Morena Thebe, who confirmed the incident, said the young girl’s decomposing body was found three streets away from her home.
“What is even more puzzling was that Rasta was part of the search party that worked tirelessly to find Boipelo after her disappearance. He went up and down with us as we searched for her. I remember how we went into that very yard but didn’t check in the house or shack because nothing was suspicious,” said Thebe, adding that he believes Rasta was keeping tabs on their routes by attending their daily meetings.
“When they entered the shack, Thebe immediately spotted the young girl’s hand sticking out from the wardrobe.
“It was unbelievable that her body was right under our nose and that the perpetrator was among us, searching with us. I assume she wasn’t killed there but was later transported to the shack and left there to rot.
“This incident has had a traumatic impact on the entire community and we are not the same since the discovery. Everyone is on edge, everyone is angry and people feel let down by the police force that dismissed Boipelo’s mother’s cry.”
A neighbour next to Rasta’s shack, who opted for anonymity, described him as a “character” who didnot spend much time in that part of the community, but would rather go to the “old township” and would retreat to his shack at night, high on whatever he smoked.
“Some nights he would shout and swear at people and that’s when I would come out to reprimand him to mind his language in front of the children,” he said.
The publication stated that the death of the minor has caused rage and anger within the community, that a neighbour was beaten by three balaclava-wearing men last Wednesday, for being Rasta’s next-door neighbour.
