Inathi Mhlahlo was raped and murdered after she left her home to buy some sweets and a packet of crisps from a shop.
The six-year-old’s half-naked body was discovered in bushes close to her home in the town of Mdantsane, South Africa, only five hours after she left.
The little girl was stabbed near her neck and had been stripped of her shoes, pants and underwear.
Her grieving mother Thandiwe has now opened up how her daughter dreamed of becoming a doctor or a model when she grew up.
Thandiwe said her child asked her to surprise her with a present in their last conversation.
She told DispatchLive: “I have no answers. My little girl’s life was brutally cut short. In our last conversation she said I should surprise her with a present. This hurts.
“When she wanted something from me, she called me chommie, not mommie.”
The mother revealed how she discovered her child was missing when she came home from work on the afternoon of Monday, October 26.
Phaphama, her sister revealed the family started a search for Inathi Mhlahlo after she had not returned from the shop.
They could not find her in the usual places and started to panic when the owner of the store she was walking to said he had not seen her.
Other locals joined the effort to find Inathi, until the family received a phone call telling them she had been found.
Phaphama said: “A call came to say I must bring a blanket. We thought she was still alive when we rushed to the hospital. We were shocked to discover that she was long gone. She had a stab wound to her upper body.”
Relatives addressed the little girl by her name in hospital expecting she would wake up – however she did not.
A police investigation is underway, although there have not yet been any arrests.
