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The arrest of five suspects in connection to the murder of a 16-year-old Khayelitsha girl welcomed

13 June 2020, 12:25 PM |

Sarel Meintjes | @SABCNews

Liyabona Mabishi was stabbed 13-times in Nkanini and died on her way to hospital.

Image: File: SABC News

Liyabona Mabishi was stabbed 13-times in Nkanini and died on her way to hospital.

Western Cape Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, has welcomed the arrest of five suspects in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old girl in Khayelitsha in Cape Town on Human Rights Day in March this year.

Fritz has personally updated Liyabona Mabishi’s mother about progress made with the investigation into her daughter’s death.

The suspects have appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court and will appear again on July 6, to apply for bail, which the State is expected to oppose.

At the time of Mabishi’s death, it was suspected that it was a hate crime related to her sexuality, but the police have not found evidence of that yet.

The deceased was stabbed 13-times in Nkanini and died on her way to hospital.

Her friend who tried to intervene was also stabbed and wounded in the attack.

Western Cape Minister of Community Safety, Albert Fritz, has welcomed the arrest of five suspects in connection with the…

Posted by SABC News Western Cape on Saturday, 13 June 2020

Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on all South Africans to end the culture of silence around gender-based violence and report perpetrators to the South African Police Service (SAPS).

This comes, as the body of a young woman was found dumped under a tree in Dobsonville, Soweto on Friday.

Since the country entered coronavirus alert Level 3, there has been a surge in gender-based violence and femicide.

“It is a dark and shameful week for us as a nation. Criminals have descended to even greater depths of cruelty and callousness. It simply cannot continue,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President said, “We note with disgust that at a time when the country is facing the gravest of threats from the pandemic, violent men are taking advantage of the eased restrictions on movement to attack women and children.”

“As we still struggle to come to terms with the brutality inflicted on Tshegofatso Pule, Naledi Phangindawo, Nompumelelo Tshaka and other women in the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal, whose bodies were found dumped this week, another woman has lost her life,” President Ramaphosa said.

In the video below, brutal murder of pregnant, 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule: