The young man accused of raping and killing Monneashia Prins made a chilling confession in court.
The accused, 18, was arrested days after the 11-year-old victim’s family identified her body at the morgue.
The girl from Ithemba Farms informal settlement went missing on Friday, February 9, and was last seen walking with the accused, who is also from the same neighbourhood.
The accused returned to the area with muddy clothes that same night. The following day, Monneashia’s body was found in a canal near her Eerste River home. She was covered in mud.
The accused made his first appearance in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where he appeared calm and showed no signs of emotion, even when he confessed.
He has been charged with rape, murder and abduction.
When the magistrate gave him his legal representation options, he said he would speak for himself.
He said: “No thank you Ma’am, I will speak for myself. Ma’am, I did something wrong, I need to learn my lesson.”
The court advised him to apply for Legal Aid, as the charges were very serious.
He replied: “Ma’am, I’m guilty. I just want the sentence.”
The victim’s father, Monrico Humphries, however, still wants answers.
“When she went missing, I was informed that she was seen walking with the accused. “Why did he do it? I didn’t expect that from him. I’m a father, I should look after my child and anybody else’s.
“I feed hungry children there, I take them home, so why did he do that? He doesn’t look like a person who would do that.
“I’m shocked that he confessed, and that he was too eager to go to prison.
“My daughter didn’t know him that well, they were not close,” Humphries said.
The grief-stricken dad said he misses Monneashia everyday.
“I miss everything about her, from when she woke up to when she went to bed.
“I just grab anything that is hers, even her books and hold them. I just miss seeing her putting on her make-up, she wanted to be a model. She would even dress her younger sisters.”
The accused’s mother, revealed that when she found his muddy clothes, she went straight to the police and handed them in.
“The police allowed me to speak to him at the station and he told me he doesn’t know what came over him. He was drunk and also smoked dagga on the day of the incident.
“I didn’t raise him like that.
“He has been through a lot and I am not making excuses for him. He did what he did and he must face the consequences,” she said.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za