Radio NZ
January 8 2007; 16:56

Sexual attack not ruled out in death of 10 yr old girl

The police in Christchurch say they are not ruling out a sexually motivated attack as they investigate the death of a 10 year old girl.

Charlene Makaza died in hospital on Sunday morning after being found unconscious and breathing erratically in her bed.

The first post mortem gave police an early indication that Charlene had been smothered, and that her death was a homicide, but they are waiting on the results of a second post mortem to reveal more details on how she died.

Detective Inspector Malcolm Johnston says a sexual attack has not been ruled out. "We'll wait until we get the final results from the post-mortem, and we'll go further with that. Nothing's been ruled out; it's an absolute mystery as to ....how the injuries were inflicted. "

However, Detective Inspector Johnston says following a thorough examination of the girl's Ilam house today, the police have ruled out the possibility that an intruder was involved.

He says police have now interviewed all of the family members who there over the weekend, but officers will remain at the house for several days.