Pietermaritzburg - The heart of the mother of 5-year-old Lusanda Athandiwe Dumakude is broken.
Nqobile Mlaba, 26, of Pietermaritzburg, said she was shattered by her daughter’s gruesome death.
“It is too painful for me, to imagine what she went through. I am trying to come to terms with everything, but I want to know why this happened. Who would torture and kill a small child like that?” she sobbed.
Mlaba said she last saw her precious daughter on Monday morning, when she kissed her goodbye as she left for school.
Lusanda was a Grade R pupil at Berg Street Primary School in Pietermaritzburg. “Everything was fine. I did not think that would be the last time I get to see my child,” the grief-stricken mother said.
She said she was shocked when on Monday, the taxi driver who transports Lusanda to and from school, called to inform her that he could not find Lusanda.
“The driver told me he had looked everywhere for Lusanda, and had even gone into the school, but could not find her,” Mlaba said.
The worried mother called her brother to search for Lusanda, but her worst fears were realised when she later received a call from a Woodlands resident who had found her contact details inside Lusanda’s school bag.
“They told me that my baby was dead. I still cannot believe this has happened. My heart is broken,” Mlaba said, bursting into tears.
Lusanda’s bloodied body was found in a dense forest off Ottos Bluff Road in Woodlands at about 5.30pm on Monday by horrified passers-by. She had been stabbed five times, once in the back of the head.
Her underwear was pulled down to her ankles. A post-mortem was conducted to ascertain whether she was raped before being killed.
Asked what she would miss most about her daughter, Mlaba said her smile and inquisitive nature.
“She was a very clever child, and was always happy. She was my life, and now she is gone. What am I going to do?” Mlaba asked, clutching a picture of her daughter.
Lusanda’s funeral will take place this weekend.
Daily News