Shaamila Khan, Shaynice’s aunt, shares more light to story (Shaynice, 4 years old who was brutally raped and killed in South Afica)

The Talla family had to go through the anguish of having their loved one brutally killed. The family’s four-year-old daughter Shaynice Talla was raped, killed and thrown into a drain.
 

She went missing on Wednesday in the afternoon and her body was discovered later the same night in the drain, about 300m away from her house by community members who went on a search.

The family said they went and filed a missing people’s report at Eldorado police station the same day she went missing.

They said it was more painful to go through this again as they had a family member who died the same way 12 years ago.

Barely able to hold back her tears, the mother of the four-year-old, Samantha Talla, said she was broken by her daughter’s death. She said not so long ago, the toddler had asked her to buy a bigger bicycle for her “when she gets older”.

“She loved bikes. I remember she asked me and said ‘mummy please buy me a bigger bike when I grow up’,” a tearful Talla said.

Shaamila Khan, Shaynice’s aunt, said she last saw her niece when she was sleeping before she went to work on Wednesday.

“She was my sweet child whom I loved so much and I took her as my own child. She would ask for a chocolate and she loved peanut butter bread,” she said.

The leader of the Khoisan Gauteng council, Keith Duarte, said the government had failed the community with regards to economic empowerment, hence the brutal killings.

“We are saying to the government come see how we live in Eldorado, don’t just sit in your positions. The warning is out. We are sitting on a time bomb.

Eldorado will erupt to come and help our community,” he said.

A man has been arrested in connection with the brutal crime and police have to urge residents, who were baying for his blood, to remain calm and let justice take its course.

On Wednesday the family laid her to rest. The tragic death has affected the family and mourners had their eyes full of tears and hearts filled with sorrow.

Those attending the funeral said that the community should stand together and go back to the days where they used to say ‘Jou kind is my kind’ because it’s through their anger at each other that their children are no longer safe because people are turning a blind eye to the safety and well-being of our children.

According to reports, the man apprehended for Shaynice’s tragic death has been released from police custody as the family awaits the outcome of the post-mortem.