Cape Town - A 10-year-old girl was brutally stabbed to death by a suspected drug addict in Cape Town.
Misholine Jantjies was allegedly choked by her 20-year-old neighbour before he stabbed her in the neck.
It’s believed the defenceless girl was stabbed four times in full view of her terrified young friends.
Police confirmed a suspect was arrested at a nearby house in the Capricorn area on Wednesday.
Residents suspect the man followed the girls to a park in Drury Road where he attacked Misholine on Tuesday night.
Her 11-year-old friend who witnessed the attack says the man was looking for Misholine and after the stabbing, threatened to come for her the next day.
The shaken girl tells the Daily Voice she and her other friends ran home after witnessing the murder.
“We were playing in the park when one of my other friends told me (the suspect) was choking Misholine,” says the friend.
“He [pinned] her between his legs and choked her as she tried to break free.
“Then he took out a knife and stabbed her.
“We all ran home because we were scared.
“He said he was going to come for me tomorrow.”
After she was stabbed, Misholine managed to make her way into the road to call for help.
Dried blood stains from her little hands could still be seen against the park’s concrete palisade fencing on Wednesday.
A dark stain in the road a short distance away marks the spot where the little girl collapsed and died.
Her grieving mother Magrieta Jantjies, 38, had just arrived home from work when she got the horrific news.
She rushed to her dying child where residents were praying for her.
“I arrived home around 7.30pm and just before 8pm I asked one of the other girls where Missy was because I hadn’t seen her yet,” she says.
“A few minutes later someone came and told me she was stabbed and was lying around the corner.
“I ran there and she was still alive.
“She tried talking to me but she couldn’t.
“I wasn’t allowed to hold her but I touched her hair and told her she will be OK.
“She died moments later.”
The mother of four says everyone already knows who her daughter’s killer is.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut says the man was arrested on Wednesday.
“The suspect was arrested and he is being detained for murder,” Traut says.
“He is due in Muizenberg court once he has been charged.
“The circumstances surrounding the death of a 10-year-old girl are being investigated after she was stabbed to death in Drury Road, Vrygrond.
“The motive for the incident is yet to be determined.”
Magriet says: “Hy kan maar dood gaan.” (He can die for all I care)
“I don’t know him personally but I know his face.
“It was hard seeing her at the mortuary,” she sobbed.
Magrieta says her daughter, who would have gone to Grade 4 next year, was counting the days to Christmas.
Holding her child’s Christmas dress in her hand, Magrieta says Misholine, who belonged to the junior choir at church, wanted a music box for Christmas.
“I was going to buy her a music box but now this,” she wept.
Megan Baadjies, Daily Voice