Eerste River mother speaks out after her three-year-old daughter was found raped.
Image: Tracy-Lynn Ruiters
An Eerste River mother spoke for the first time about the day her three-year-old daughter went missing from her father's care on 30 June 2026 and was later raped.
"I was so hurt, I was so hurt when I found out she was raped by that guy, I just felt like he took my daughter's future away!"
The toddler was found injured in a bushy area behind a shack in Forest Village by a sex-worker who caught the suspect assaulting her.
The man was killed by angry community members. The father, 39, admitted he had gone to a nearby shebeen for a beer while hungover but insisted his daughter was not with him when she went missing and denied ever being with the man accused of the attack.
"She walked with me to the shebeen and was playing with her cousin and friends. They went to the shop together, and when they came back I asked where she was they said she was walking behind them, but she wasn't there," he said. "I immediately told the community my child is gone. We walked door to door asking people to check."
Community leaders advised him to open a case; on his return he learned she had been found. "I was so happy that she was found. I thanked God. But then I heard she was raped. Those words... the trauma."
The mother, who had left her daughter with her husband while she went to work, recalled getting the call. "I went to work and left her with her daddy. Then I got the call to say she is missing. My heart sank."
"I can't explain how I feel, what that guy did to her. He hurt her, he hurt me, he took away her future," she said of the man's death. "I feel that that was justice, because that guy they killed, already killed my daughter and her future."
The toddler played nearby with teddy bears gifted by Veranique "Benji" Williams, founder of the Faith and Hope Missing Persons Unit, whose team led the search. The mother thanked Williams and fellow workers Nadia Faro and Juanita Maboussou before breaking down in tears.
The father only realised his daughter was missing around 17:30. A woman who identified herself as a sex worker later found the child and alerted searchers, alleging she caught a man assaulting the girl. Residents killed the man before authorities could intervene.
The parents with the 3-year-old
Image: Tracy-Lynn Ruiters
Police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk confirmed Kleinvlei police opened a murder investigation into the man's death; he was found with multiple head injuries at Hood Street, Forest Village.
Williams said the community's actions, while unlawful, reflect years of frustration.
Before leaving, she turned to the father directly and said: "As parents we shouldn't be taking our children with to shebeens. You have the duty to protect that child with every piece of you.
"Finding her was a success, but it's not a success in my heart. She was raped, imagine how she felt, how she screamed and how she cried. I want Social Development to check on that child and SAPS, if there was neglect, they must follow through."
The child was found by a sex-worker
Image: Tracy-Lynn Ruiters
Police say the incident is linked to a kidnapping and alleged rape, and the case has been transferred to Kuils River FCS. Questions remain over neglect charges against the father.
Van Wyk condemned the vigilante killing, saying mob justice "poses a direct threat" to communities.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stop anonymously on 08600 10111, or via the MySAPS app.