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Mother Lara Boer with Lache, 3.

A little girl was allegedly murdered by her father’s girlfriend.

Three-year-old Lache Stols died shortly after she was rushed to hospital in EersterivIer last week.

Her father Angelo Stols, 24, and girlfriend Anthea Kleynhans, 33, originally claimed the tot died of meningitis.

But – in a case that echoes the infamous 2005 murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton – Kleynhans was later arrested and charged with murder.

Little Lache was buried amid heartbreaking scenes in Oudtshoorn on Saturday.

In an interview with the Daily Voice, the tot’s heartbroken mom Lara Boer, 19, says her ex and his girlfriend took her daughter to Cape Town without her consent.

“She lived with [Angelo’s] family because I don’t work,” Lara says.

“Even though she was living with them, I was with my daughter everyday and I loved her.”

The last time she saw her daughter was in December.

“I got to the house one day and his [Angelo’s] grandmother told me that Lache was in Cape Town,” she tells the Daily Voice.

“I was angry but I did not do anything about it because she was with her father.

“But whenever I tried calling, their cellphones were off or they would not let me speak to her.”

Last week Angelo and Kleynhans took Lara to Eersterivier hospital.

They told doctors she had stopped breathing after vomiting.

Lara – who happened to be in Cape Town at the time – rushed to the hospital after she received a phone call saying her little daughter had died.

At the hospital, Angelo claimed Lache had died of meningitis.

But the dead little girl’s face was covered with cuts and bruises and appeared as if she had been assaulted.

A few days later Lara received a call from the cops confirming both Angelo and Kleynhans had been arrested.

“He was later freed but she was kept and charged with murder,” Lara says.

Kleynhans appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrates’ court last week.

Angelo broke down in tears as his girlfriend was led away into custody.

Police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk says Kleynhans is due back in court on Friday for a formal bail application.

“An autopsy was done and it was discovered that the child died of severe head injuries caused by blunt trauma. After further investigation [Kleynhans] was arrested and charged with murder,” he says.

The shocking case bears striking similarities to the infamous Dina murder case that rocked the Flats in 2005.

Then, convicted killer Dina Rodrigues hired four hitmen to murder her boyfriend’s six-month-old baby Jordon-Leigh Norton.

* This article was published in the Daily Voice