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‘Let me do to him what he did to my daughter’, says grieving father of Bokgabo Poo
Ivrin Ndlovu said he may get closure if the accused feels the pain he inflicted on Bokgabo.
State prosecutor Shantel Williams consoles Bokgabo Poo’s father, Irvin Ndlovu, after the accused appeared in court on 24 October 2022. Photo: Lunga Mzangwe
“Can you please tell me where the rest of my child’s body parts are, so I can bury her?”
These were the words of Bokgabo Poo’s father, Irvin Ndlovu, when his child’s alleged killer Ntokozo Zikhali was walking away from court after his case was postponed in the Benoni Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Family needs closure
Speaking to the media outside court, Ndlovu said he might seem like a drama queen, but the family needs to grieve properly and bury Bokgabo.
“It is taking so long; he needs to tell us what happened to the rest of the body parts that are missing right now,” said Ndlovu.
He said if he had a chance to speak to Zikhali, he would ask him what happened to his daughter, and make him feel the pain his daughter felt when she died.
“I would… want to inflict the same pain he inflicted on my daughter. Him being locked up for years does not bring my daughter back.
“Unless he feels what he has inflicted on my daughter, maybe then I will have some sort of closure.”
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Previous alleged rape
Zikhali was out on bail for allegedly raping a 9-year-old girl when he allegedly murdered Bokgabo.
He was granted bail because the State did not have enough evidence to link him to the crime.
Ndlovu said had law enforcement done its job properly, Zikhali would be behind bars and his daughter would still be alive.
“It is not the parents’ negligence that children get missing; that they get murdered in this fashion. It is the animals that we live with in society.
“We cannot control Ntokozo’s actions, the law needs to step in and stand for us,” he said.
Prosecutor Shantel Williams said that during Zikhali’s profiling, they found he did not have any previous convictions, only the pending matter on the rape case.
Williams said the State would be bringing an application to revoke his bail on his previous alleged crime.
Defence lawyer Suleiman Ebrahim said they would be waiting for the outcome of the bail application in the previous rape case before proceeding with any bail application on the Bokgabo matter.
“My fear in this matter is that if he applies for bail and for argument’s sake it is granted, it would be academic if the courts decided to cancel the bail of the accused.
“For now, we will not bring an application for bail in this matter pending the outcome of state conciliation in the other matter,” said Abraham.
“We have requested the state to supply the defence with a copy of the transcript of the other matter, and also the affidavit of the investigating officer.”
ALSO READ: Body found in veld confirmed to be missing Bokgabo Poo
DNA evidence confirmed
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the State did not oppose bail on the case where Zikhali allegedly raped the 9-year-old, because they did not have enough evidence to oppose bail.
“The child was only able to identify [Zikhali] three months after [the incident], however, he has since been linked through DNA evidence to the rape of the 9-year-old, hence we are now applying to cancel his bail application,” Mahanjana said.
“We still did not have a statement from the child identifying the accused, however, we enrolled the matter on the seriousness of the charge.”
Mahanjana said they still do not have details on where the remaining parts of Bokgabo are.
The matter has been postponed to 14 November.
