Six-year-old Gqeberha girl found buried in dunes — aunt and partner arrested

A high dune at a popular beach in Nelson Mandela Bay was teeming with police officials on Friday morning after a heart-wrenching discovery was made late the previous night.

Abigail Prins, a six-year-old girl from Motherwell who was last seen on Human Rights Day, was murdered. Her tiny body was buried in a shallow grave on top of a dune at St George’s Strand.

The prime suspects – an aunt and her boyfriend – were tracked to Makhanda and brought back to Gqeberha, where they were arrested for murder.

In an unrelated matter six days ago, the body of another seven-year-old girl was found at a rubbish dump in Parkside, East London. A 45-year-old man was arrested and accused of kidnapping, raping and strangling the girl to death.

GBV in spotlight

These heinous crimes have once again shoved concerns about gender-based violence (GBV) into the spotlight – crimes that were declared a national disaster and which the president and police minister said “demanded intensified efforts” earlier this year.

“We heard during the State of the Nation Address that the president has centred public safety, with a particular focus on tackling organised crime and gender-based violence, at the forefront of this government’s agenda in the coming year,” minister Firoz Cachalia said when he unpacked the third quarter crime statistics in February.

He reiterated that the stats showed that GBV often occurs between family members and people with close relationships.

He said the steps taken to strengthen the police fight against GBV included an additional 999 police members that will be allocated to detective services nationally.

Cold comfort for grieving families

However, these statements and commitments are cold comfort to the families that have to visit state mortuaries to identify the bodies of their murdered children.

Abigail was last seen on 21 March, at her family home in Ncinana Mjondolo Street, Motherwell. According to a police report her aunt, Christine Prins, also arrived at the home and started drinking with the victim’s mother and other family members.

Around 9pm the mother and her boyfriend went to bed, leaving her sister, Christine, to sleep in the same room as Abigail and her four-year-old sibling. When the mother woke up the following morning, Abigail and Christine were no longer in the house, and a visit to Christine’s residence in nearby Ikamvelihle also turned up nothing.

On Tuesday, 24 March, the mother reported Abigail missing, and a kidnapping case was opened for investigation.

Christine and her boyfriend, Tebogo Maranki, were identified as persons of interest, and an extensive police investigation ultimately tracked them to Makhanda.

“The police’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) in Gqeberha has arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of a six-year-old girl, following an intensive investigation,” police spokesperson Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana responded to reports of Abigail’s discovery.

Information about suspects

She said FCS detectives launched an operation in Makhanda after receiving information about the two suspects’ whereabouts. They were brought back to Gqeberha for further questioning and ultimately arrested after the investigation led to the discovery of Abigail’s body.

“On Friday, the investigation led to the discovery of the body of a child in a shallow grave at St George’s Beach. The suspects have been detained on charges of murder and are expected to appear in the Motherwell Magistrate’s Court on Monday,” Gantana said.

Several police officials made the trek to the remote dune, about 200m from the main beach at St George’s Strand, among them members of the K9 Search and Rescue Unit, whose dogs found the exact location where Abigail’s body was buried.

Forensic experts fine-combed the scene, and several numbered yellow markers littered the dune where pieces of evidence were uncovered.

After they gathered the evidence and photographed the scene, K9 members exhumed the body, which a police official described as “knee deep”.

A morbid silence fell over the scene as the little girl’s remains were placed in a black body bag and two police members carried it down the dune to the main beach where it was loaded into a police vehicle and transported to the state mortuary.

“Fucking bastards,” one uniformed member muttered as his colleagues passed him with the body bag.

With regards to the East London matter, Gantana said initial reports indicated that the victim was last seen playing with friends near her home in Parkside when an unknown man approached her and enquired about her father’s whereabouts.

The other children left and only informed the victim’s grandmother of the incident when she started asking about the girl after she never came home.

Gantana said a missing person case was opened with the police, and Search and Rescue teams later located her body at the dumpsite.

“Further investigation, including witness statements from the children who saw the deceased with the suspect, and a post-mortem confirming rape and strangulation, led to the arrest of the 45-year-old suspect.”

The suspect made his first appearance in court on Thursday and is expected to return for a formal bail application next week. His name will be withheld until he formally pleads in court.

Eastern Cape provincial police commissioner Lt Gen Vuyisile Ncata condemned the violent crimes perpetrated against vulnerable young children, but he also lauded the police officials involved in the investigation of both cases and the arrests made.

“These are deeply disturbing and heartbreaking cases. The brutality inflicted on innocent children has no place in our society.

“We commend our members for their dedication and persistence in ensuring that justice is served. We urge communities to continue working with the police and to report any information that may assist in investigations of this nature,” Ncata said. DM