Bokamoso Shabe was snatched from her school on Monday. Picture: SAPS
A schoolgirl who was reported missing on Monday has been found dead by the Free State police.
Eight-year-old Bokamoso Shabe was last seen at Mantshebo Primary School in Jerusalem Park on Monday at 1.30pm, and was reported to have been abducted from the school.
The Lejweleputswa district police consisting of various units launched a search for her.
According to Brigadier Motantsi Makhele, her body was found after a visit to a suspected man’s house, who after being questioned, led the team to the scene in Riebeeckstad, Welkom, where the body was found wrapped in a duvet cover in an open field.
She was still wearing her school uniform.
A case of murder was opened.
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The 46-year-old male was arrested and is expected to appear in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on a charge of murder.
Additional arrests are expected.
Bokamoso’s kidnappers had demanded a R50,000 ransom for her safe return.
Her grandmother was contacted at 3pm on Monday by a man who called himself Aubrey demanding R50,000. The man threatened to kill the eight-year-old girl should the grandmother not pay, Makhele said.
On Tuesday morning, the grandmother received another call from a woman, Nthabeleng, who also demanded R50,000 for the safe return of her granddaughter.
READ MORE: Kidnappers demand R50,000 from grandmother for school girl
“On the day of her disappearance, the girl was wearing a school uniform, white shirt, grey and white jersey, grey skirt and black shoes,” police said.
“Our condolences go to the family of Bokamoso during these tiring times. It’s heart-breaking for any parent to lose a child, but it become more devastating to lose a child in this manner,” provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Baile Motswenyane said.
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