Eerste River Mother Speaks After Three-Year-Old Daughter Raped; Suspect Killed by Community

A three-year-old girl from Eerste River went missing from her father’s care on 30 June 2026 and was later found raped. The toddler was discovered injured in bushes behind a shack in Forest Village by a sex worker who reported witnessing the suspect on top of the child. The man was subsequently killed by enraged community members at the scene.

Eerste River Father’s Account of the Disappearance

The child’s 39-year-old father admitted that on the afternoon she disappeared, he had gone to a nearby shebeen to buy a beer because he was hungover. However, he insisted his daughter was not sitting with him when she vanished and denied ever being with the man later accused of the attack.

“She walked with me to the shebeen and was playing with her cousin and friends. They went to the shop together and when they came back, I asked where she was, and they said she was walking behind them, but she wasn’t there,” he said.

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Community leaders advised him to open a case. Upon his return, he learned his daughter had been found. “I was so happy that she was found. I thanked God. But then I heard she was raped! Those words… the trauma!” he added.

Mother’s Heartbreak and Call for Justice

Speaking for the first time, the traumatised mother recalled receiving the call about her missing child. “I went to work and left her with her daddy. Then I got the call to say she is missing. My heart sank,” she said.

She expressed profound anguish over the attack: “I was so hurt when I found out she was raped by that guy; I just felt like he took my daughter’s future away! I can’t explain how I feel, what that guy did to her. He hurt her, he hurt me, and he took away her future.”

Regarding the suspect’s death at the hands of the community, she said: “I feel that that was justice, because that guy they killed already killed my daughter and her future.”

The toddler played nearby with teddy bears gifted by Veranique “Benji” Williams, founder of the Faith and Hope Missing Persons Unit, whose team led the search. The mother thanked Williams and fellow workers Nadia Faro and Juanita Maboussou before breaking down in tears.

Before leaving, Williams addressed the father directly: “I want the Department of Social Development to check on that child, and the police. If there was neglect, they must follow through.”