Church group member kills child to spite the mother.
A group of residents protest outside the Mamelodi Magistrate court on Monday.
11-year old girl was killed by a Pretoria man who said that the mother had refused to hear a “message from God” he had for her.
Mongezi Chauke, 29, who is in the prayer group with the mother of the slain child, appeared briefly in the Mamelodi magistrate’s court, east of Pretoria, yesterday and his case was postponed to February 22 after he chose to leave his bail application.
Members of the community protested outside the court, demanding that the accused should not be granted bail.
Kgothatso Tshabalala’s body was found with multiple stab wounds and her throat cut last Tuesday.
Kgothatso’s mother, Nthabiseng Khanyi, 38, said the tragedy began when she refused to receive the preaching or delivery of a message from God to her.
“He called me on Monday saying he had a message from God for me. I told him I was tired and would listen to the message the next day. He was very aggressive and angry,” Khanyi said.
She added: “I prayed with him [the accused] in our prayer group. People saw us together and assumed that I’m dating him and I was not.”
She said Chauke inisisted on seeing her when he had come to her house the very same evening still but she still refused to give him an ear and he left.
However, Chauke came back the following day while the mother was at work and he kidnapped the daughter who was later found stabbed.
Khanyi’s sister, Mahlodi Makwane, said they wanted the authority to serve them with justice and the accused to rot in jail for “killing my niece like a dog”.
“I still don’t believed my little niece died a painful death like that and she died because the mother refused to listen to what was apparently a message from God,” Makwane said.
Makwane said Chauke arrived when Kgothatso was playing with her other sister when Chauke and asked her to accompany him somewhere, she did not refuse since he was well known by their family as they would have prayer together at their home.
The accused denied that Kgothatso’s younger sister accompany them.
“My other niece came to my house and asked about her sister and if she had come to my place because I don’t stay far from them… I started to make phone calls to relatives but without success. No one had seen her,” said Makwane.
When Kgothatso’s mother returned from work she updated the neighbours and they began a search party. Kgothatso’s body was later found lying in a pool of blood in a shack nearby.
“I was terrified to see my little niece in that way and I’m still not okay. Every time I close my eyes I still see her,” said Makwane.
Khanyi said she had known Chauke for only three months and that it was after they had created a local group since there were no church gatherings due to the lockdown.
