http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=124&objectid=10418267

NZ Herald
January 9 2007; 05:00

Girl 'suffocated by another person'
by Jarrod Booker

Charlene Makaza

Police probing the death of a 10-year-old Christchurch girl strongly suspect that another person suffocated the child, and say there is nothing to suggest she was ill before she died.

Charlene Makaza's caregivers rushed her to hospital on Saturday after finding her unconscious in her bed.

But police yesterday ruled out the possibility that an intruder broke into the family's house and inflicted the fatal injuries.

Detective Inspector Malcolm Johnston said police strongly suspected another person suffocated the child.

"There is no evidence an intruder has broken into the house," he said.

"She's been suffocated by another person.

"That was what the pathologist has reported back to us.

"There's so many things we are still yet to establish. We simply don't know. It's too early in the inquiry," he told TV1.

He said the death was being treated as a homicide investigation.

Charlene was brought to New Zealand for a better life by family members who took her in after the death of her parents in Zimbabwe.

For about two years, that is what the young girl found while under the care of her uncle and aunt.

She loved the New Zealand way of life and was quickly accepted and well-liked by her teachers and fellow pupils at school in Christchurch.

"She always used to say she never wanted to go back to Zimbabwe," said Irvine Kombora, a relative who is living in Christchurch.

Charlene died in Christchurch Hospital about 1am on Sunday of injuries police suspect were caused by suffocation.

She had been admitted to hospital a day earlier after she was found in her bed unconscious and struggling to breathe.

Police have questioned five people in the house where Charlene was living in the suburb of Ilam.

An examination was also done to see if an intruder had somehow got into Charlene's room, but this is now considered unlikely.

Fingernail scrapings were taken yesterday, and DNA tests were done.

Police were looking for any signs of bruising which may have developed on Charlene's body, or any evidence of sexual abuse.

The test results had not been received by last night, but were being sought urgently.

South Island Zimbabwean community leader Hylton Chaza spoke to the family and yesterday told the Herald he understood Charlene had been ill before her death and may have had pneumonia.

Mr Kombora said that might be Mr Chaza's understanding, but he did not believe that to be the case, and police also rejected it.

Mr Kombora said the family did not want to discuss how Charlene died without getting the full facts from the autopsy.

Charlene's family and friends and their pastor gathered on Sunday, according to Zimbabwean custom, to share their grief.

Mr Kombora said those close to Charlene were shattered by her death.

Her caregivers had taken Charlene in when she was five months old after the death of her parents.

"She was very loving, she had a very good heart," Mr Kambora said.

"She was quiet and she was always helpful."

As difficult as it was to lose her, the family were devout Christians and believed Charlene's death was part of God's plan.

A decision was to be made about whether Charlene should be buried in New Zealand or taken back to Zimbabwe.