Police dog finds slain girl (aged 5)

Man aged 23 is arrested

A man was arrested after the body of a five-year-old girl was found near her home in Highflats, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

The 23-year-old was arrested shortly after the girl, from Thathani, was found on Sunday, Colonel Jay Naicker said.

The child visited her neighbour’s house and failed to return home on Saturday. She was reported missing at the Highflats police station the same evening.

Police searched for the girl on Sunday morning. A police dog picked up a scent and led its handler to an unused 1.6m-deep pit toilet covered with a piece of corrugated iron, where the body was found.

Police investigations led them to a house in Thathani where the child was last seen alive.

A man from the same house was arrested and charged with murder.

A knife, believed to have been used in the murder, was also seized.

A post-mortem would be conducted to determine the cause of girl’s death.

The motive for the killing was still unknown.

The man was expected to appear in the Highflats Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.