5-year-old girl found dead with eyes gouged out in South Africa

Over the last five months, cases of  murder, rape, drugs and robbery has drastically increased in South Africa. On Sunday, June 4, 2017, the body of a five-year-old Minentle Lekhakha was discovered in a horrifying state.

Residents of Strand in the Western Cape province of South Africa, were left in shock after they found the deceased dumped on the field with her eye reportedly gouged out after she went missing on Saturday, June 3, 2017.

Her family feared that her murderer had raped her before killing her.

Buzz SA reports that Miss Minentle, a Grade R pupil at ACJ Phakade Primary School in Nomzamo would be the fourth child found murdered in four weeks.

According to the deceased grandmother, Thelma Bomela:

 'She went missing on Saturday at around 2pm. When I come back from work she normally waited for me because she knew I would bring something for her from work. So I arrived from work and waited for her to come to me like she normally does, but she did not. I asked other children, but no one knew where she was.' 

'That is when I started searching for her. After going to all the places she normally plays with friends I could not find her, so I went to the police station to report her missing,” she said.

Upon receiving the gruesome report of the death of Miss Minentle Lekhakha, her grandmother was disheartened.

Reacting to her death, Minentle’s aunt, Sesethu Bomela said:

 'It is painful for all of us. We did not expect this to happen. This is a child who was raised right in front of me. She was a bright child who was excited about things. She liked learning new things and was very playful.'

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said while the Police go in search of the culprit, a post-mortem would be conducted to determine the cause of death.

 “Circumstances of the death of this child are under investigation,” he said.