The community of Sahhukwana in Jericho is reeling after a resident made a gruesome discovery; the dismembered body of eight-year-old Tifezile Gwebu who went missing last Thursday.
Jericho is located somewhere between Mhlosheni and Hluti, in southern Eswatini.
The grisly discovery was made yesterday morning.
The lad was reportedly doing family chores and preparing to take a bath when he stumbled upon a gory sight, the head of the little girl, which was placed on a table inside a cooking hut.
The young man who will not be identified for ethical reasons stays alone at the Hlatshwako homestead situated around Sahhukwana, while other family members are spread across the country.
The terrified young man recounted the unsettling experience of waking up to the sight of a human head on a table, first to community members and then to the police, who responded promptly.
After seeing the head, the confused young man said he came out of the hut, not knowing what to do next.
While still trying to process the horrifying sight, his eyes again led to yet another frightening image; that of the headless body of the little girl, which was hanging from an avocado tree, situated about 10 metres away. It was shocking, if not sickening.
The boy was overwhelmed.
But he tried to regain his composure and was able to raise the alarm.
Neighbours who responded could not believe what they were witnessing. They described the scene as unbelievable, and heart-wrenching. An inspection of the lifeless and beheaded body indicated that the girl may have been harmed at another location, and then brought to the homestead. There were no fresh drops of blood in the vicinity, according to eye witnesses.
“It doesn’t normally happen anywhere. We were all left shocked, it was horrifying,” said Muzi Nxumalo, a resident who has been participating in the search for the young girl in previous days.
Police were immediately called to the scene.
It was the second time they had responded to a residence in the area, since the inception of the search last Thursday.
The first time was last Friday, when a sniffer dog led them to another homestead, where it further identified an occupant as a potential suspect. That man was subsequently taken in for interrogation, alongside four other family members.
Then, it was the recent homestead at Sahhukwana where they were called following the grisly find.
Just like the last Friday incident, again, a potential suspect was identified afterwards. But this time around it was after detectives had processed the scene for possible clues.
The homestead was cordoned off as a crime scene immediately, and residents were kept waiting for hours while detectives searched for possible clues.
A manhunt was later launched, now for a potential suspect.
Community members, alongside the police were still trying to comb nearby forests, searching for the suspect.
The latest development was confirmed by Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati.
This is not an isolated incident as a number of occurrences, where a school girl was first reported missing, only to be later found dead, have rocked the country of late, sending shockwaves.
