Western Cape police have arrested and charged a suspect following the murder of an 11-year-old girl in Mitchell’s Plain on the Cape Flats. Stacha Arendse, from Tafelsig, went missing on Monday afternoon and her body was found on Tuesday morning behind the Swartklip Centre in the area. The 31-year-old suspect is expected to appear in the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrate’s Court on friday.

Police were called on Thursday to guard the house of the suspect after an angry mob tried to burn it down.

Residents could be seen chanting slogans of support for the family of the young girl, while calling for the death penalty to be instituted against the accused in Matroosberg Street, Tafelsig.

Police spokesperson, Captain Lance Goliath, says about 300 members of the community converged on the suspects home at 3pm, forcing the suspect’s family members to call for police intervention.

“About 300 people tried to burn down the house, but they didn’t succeed…The mother and another relative of the suspect still lives there and we had police groupings in the area,” Goliath stated.

Western Cape police said they arrested two people for public violence after protest action erupted in the Mitchells Plain area while the police were busy on the scene of the murder.

“We urge the community not to take the law into their own hands but to allow the SAPS to do their work and bring the suspect before court. Any attack on a suspect by community members is regarded as a criminal offence and is punishable by law,” said spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana. VOC