Brutal murder of 15-year-old shocks community

A 15-year-old girl, Rolivhuwa Mphaphathi, died on Saturday night at the Siloam hospital. The badly injured girl was found in the bushes near the Dopeni graveyard a few days earlier, where she had been dumped by her attacker.

According to a spokesperson for the Siloam police, W/O Edward Tharaga, the girl was found in a critical condition by three local women on Wednesday afternoon. She was apparently attacked the previous night and left in the bushes. The women called an ambulance and the matter was reported to the SAPS at Siloam.

The grandmother of the deceased, Mrs Tshinakaho Matsea, said that she was surprised when her granddaughter did not return home from Tshikombani, where she went to buy electricity and cut her hair. “I kept peeping out of the window all night, hoping to see Rolivhuwa walking in, but there was no sign of her,” she said.

A family member, Chief Nndweleni Mphaphathi, said that the family is still in shock. He said that he failed to understand how a person could be so inhumane and cruel to an innocent young girl.

“Her neck was scratched and swollen as if she was choked by a rope and she was badly bruised on the head,” he said. “There was a bad wound on her jugular and it seemed as if she bled a lot through her mouth, nose and ears,” he said.

W/O Tharaga confirmed that a murder case had been opened. “The detectives are still gathering all the evidence, so they can get some leads as to who could be responsible for such gruesome actions,” he said. “We are pleading with the members of the public to give us any information they have which can help us to make an arrest.”

Rolivhuwa Mphaphathi  was a Grade 10 pupil at Tshilogoni Secondary School.

The Ward 27 councillor in Thulamela Municipality, Mr Livhuwani Maduse, had been visiting and assisting the family of the deceased. “Incidents of this nature are not going to be tolerated,” he said. He made a plea with community members to assist the SAPS to ensure that whoever is responsible should be removed from the community.

Rolivhuwa will be buried at the royal graveyard tonight (Friday).

Date:19 February 2016

By: Thendo Savhasa

Thendo Savhasa (26) has always loved reading and writing from a very young age. A resident of Shanzha village in the Nzhelele area, she is currently busy with her a national diploma in journalism from the Tswane University of Technology (TUT). Thendo joined the Limpopo Mirror team as a journalism intern in February 2016.

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