A LIMPOPO man who was accused of raping a two-year-old daughter of his friend at Pulaneng village, outside Tzaneen, has died.

David Sekgobela was arrested for the incident that happened on February 16 this year.

He had taken the daughter of his close friend to bushes in the village where he allegedly raped her and left her for dead before fleeing.

An intensive police search resulted in his arrest two weeks later in Yeoville, Johannesburg.

The two-year-old died after she was treated and discharged from hospital.

Sekgobela, 27, initially faced a charge of rape but following the death of the toddler the charge was changed to murder.

Results of a postmortem conducted on the dead child revealed she had died of natural causes and the director of public prosecutions then decided not to prosecute him on the murder charge.

It was still to be decided what charge Sekgobela would face when he died.

According to police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, Sekgobela was detained at Tzaneen police station when he started complaining of breathing problems.

He said Sekgobela was rushed to a local hospital where he was treated, but later died of pneumonia.

He was due in court again on August 2.

"The death of Sekgobela comes as a big blow to us as police because we were hopeful that our investigations would reveal how he committed the heinous crime and also avoided arrest by fleeing to Gauteng," Mulaudzi said yesterday.

He said they had also informed the Independent Police Investigative Directorate about Sekgobela's death, hoping the police watchdog body would investigate the cause of his death.

"We want to play a fair game because when Sekgobela started complaining of the illness he was in our custody," he said. - frankm@sowetan.co.za