The family of this pretty six-year-old girl had the heartbreaking task of burying her yesterday, after she was hit by a suspected gang bullet.
Saudeeqa Lippert from Kewtown died in hospital yesterday morning, after she was shot outside her grandmother’s house in Bokmakierie on Monday night.
Late last night, the Daily Voice learnt that two men have been arrested for the shooting.
Eyewitnesses say the unsuspecting Saudeeqa was packing her bags into a car when she was struck in her stomach in the driveway of the house in Ninth Avenue.
She was rushed to hospital where she later passed away.
Her grief-stricken mother, Chimeiz Francis, 30, says Saudeeqa, her only daughter, never regained consciousness.
The heartbroken mom of three says her brother came to fetch her to go to hospital: “No one wanted to tell me what happened to her. When we arrived at Groote Schuur Hospital, doctors were trying to resuscitate her.
Fighting to hold back her tears, Chimeiz says: “They gave her blood because she lost a lot of blood. Then she passed on in the morning.”
The last time she saw her daughter alive was on Sunday.
“When she said goodbye she told me to give her a hug and a kiss. I never feared for her safety while she was there [by her ouma].
“She went to her grandmother every weekend and every school holiday,” she adds.
Yesterday morning, residents, including children, marched through the streets of Bokmakierie with placards, calling for gang violence to end.
Rashieda Klaasien, 54, says several people witnessed the shooting.
“There were lots of children in the road that time,” she says.
“We don’t know who they were shooting at, they must have targeted the house, but here are no gangsters.”
Another resident Gairo Wittle, 51, says: “I came out when I heard the shooting then I called [the one gunman], he turned around and looked at me. Both of them had guns and they ran off.”
Police spokesperson Constable Noloyiso Rwexana confirms: A case of murder has been opened for investigation.
“At about 7.20pm, police attended to a shooting incident at the address and found a six-year-old girl with gunshot wound to her body.
“The child later died in hospital due to her injuries.