‘Bokgabo Poo’s eyes were not there,’ says mom

The mother of four-year-old Bokgabo Poo, whose mutilated body was discovered on Saturday, said yesterday she was still able to identify her.

“I saw her with the T-shirt she was wearing, her nose, her mouth, her little pretty fingers, her eye sockets, even though the eyes were not there, the hair, I could just tell that is my daughter,” said mother Tsholofelo Poo.

She said she would like to see the death penalty come back just for her daughter’s murderer.

Poo said if that does not happen, she wishes the case could be thrown out of court so that the community can get their hands on the suspect.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a statement yesterday named the suspect as Ntokozo Khulekani Zikhali, 28, from Brakpan, Ekurhuleni, who was out on bail for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl.

Court proceedings

There was pandemonium in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court when Bokgabo’s father, Irvin Ndlovu, attacked Zikhali while he was sitting in the dock Ndlovu was screaming “this bastard killed my daughter” while residents in the gallery screamed “Bring the Satan here”.

Zikhali tried to jump to the prosecutors and police to save himself from the community who wanted to assault him.

The magistrate also had to take cover. “You killed my daughter, you killed my daughter!” Ndlovu shouted as he was held back by officers in the court.

The discovery of Bokgabo’s mutilated body in Wattville came days after six women were found dead in Selby, Johannesburg.

Poo said a day before her daughter’s body was found, she used the same street where her child’s leg was discovered.

“It was the first time I used the street, not knowing that the following day my daughter would be found in the same street.

“I cannot even pinpoint which house she was found because it is an area am not used to going to,” she said.

Bokgabo’s aunt Kelebogile Mokgako said her blood was boiling and she wanted to retaliate after she saw the alleged killer in court.

Mokgako said she agreed with community members who believed Zikhali should be killed for what he did. “The guy has a pending rape case, what is the point of giving him a life sentence?

“I would like for him to feel the same pain as a family and if it was up to me, the death sentence should be brought back.

He butchered a four-year-old, he is suspected to have raped her before killing her,” she said.