It’s been two years since the brutal murder of 4-year-old Tamia Botha of Paarl, and a SAPS cold case team has now been assigned to investigate the matter as more suspects are being reviewed.
Police have also revealed that the child had been raped.
Meanwhile the child's mother says she knows who the killer is but her pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Tamia's body was found at a school near her home on 25 September 2022.
The community had been searching for her for hours after she disappeared during a bout of loadshedding.
Lieutenant-General Khosi Senthumule, Divisional Commissioner of Detectives and Forensic Services, confirmed the case was receiving attention by their cold case squad and that DNA evidence was being pursued.
At the time when Tamia's body was discovered, police said she had not been raped.
However Senthumule told the Weekend Argus little Mia was raped and that eight suspects’ DNA had been tested but all came back negative.
“The last sample was in September 2024. (We have) identified five further suspects.”
He said Mia’s family are being kept abreast of the investigation.
Plastic had apparently been found lodged in Tamia's throat and had been sent for forensic testing.
Shortly after Tamia's murder, police arrested two men who were later released.
Tamia’s mother, Udene Botha says she called on police to question a man who claimed he saw someone dumping her child’s body.
“I did not know him and he did not know Tamia. He said that a man had placed Mia’s body there and that her eyes were closed and that she had green eyes and that she was very bekkig. How did he know these things and why has the police not arrested or questioned him?”
The mother says cops visited her home last week.
“The detective said they have one person that they are going to question but that they must gain his trust.”