A three-year-old girl, given the pseudonym Warona, has been sexually violated and stabbed by the ex-boyfriend of her mother.
The tragic event happened on September 7, after the suspect, Dlodlo, 28, lured the girl and her mates out under the guise of buying them sweets.
Dlodlo discharged the girl’s mates and took her to where he raped her and stabbed her in the neck.
He then left her for dead on the roof of his shack in the Lion Park informal settlement in Diepsloot, Gauteng, South Africa.
Dlodlo was a once-trusted family friend who often babysat the child. He had no idea the child survived the ordeal. Community members apprehended him at a pub where he had gone to drink with his friends.
When confronted, he allegedly confessed, saying that it was the work of the devil.
Warona (a pseudonym) was discovered on the roof of the suspect’s shack on Sunday, September 7, 2025, around 6 pm by a resident.
She had been under the care of her grandmother when Dlodlo took her and two other children out. Her mother was at work at the time.
According to family members who spoke to newsmen on Saturday, September 20, medical reports confirmed that Warona had been sexually assaulted, st@bbed in the neck, and left on the roof by the suspect.
Residents rushed her to Diepsloot Clinic, where they turned them down because of the extent of her injuries.
She was then taken to Yusuf Dadoo Hospital, and Leratong, where she was rejected.
Warona was finally accepted by Baragwanath Hospital, which conducted an extensive surgery on her genitals and neck before putting her in a coma.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) later declared the suspect wanted, asking members of the public for information to trace him.
A combined team of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS), K9, Drone unit and Crime Intelligence, launched a search for the suspect before mobilising resources to find him.
Enraged community members tore down the shack where the attack took place.
Gauteng Police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, said the suspect will appear at Randburg Magistrate’s Court on November 7, 2025.
