The Press
January 30 2007
Police welcome co-operation in girl's death inquiry
by Mike Steere
Revelations 10-year-old girl
Charlene Makaza was sexually assaulted before her death have brought
"understanding and co-operation" from the Zimbabwean community in the
homicide inquiry, police say.
Charlene died on January 7 from
suspected suffocation.
This month, police said that
Charlene was "violently sexually assaulted" before her death.
Their public statement was made to
quell speculation that she may have died of natural causes.
Homicide inquiry head Detective
Inspector Malcolm Johnston said people who believed the death may have been
natural were making the investigation "very difficult".
"We want to make it very, very
clear to those people that that is not the case and we
need their co-operation," he said.
Johnston yesterday said that since
the announcement, some of those people were being more helpful.
"We have had better levels of understanding
and co-operation from people since the (press) conference," he said.
Johnston said there were still no
specific suspects in the case.
The investigation has centred on Charlene's family members -- her aunt, uncle,
two cousins and 12-year-old sister -- who were at their Bryndwr
home when she sustained her injuries.
The family returned to their home
last week after staying elsewhere for several days until after Charlene's
funeral.
Police had found no evidence of an
intruder entering the house, but were refusing to rule it out.
Results from toxicology and DNA
tests are still several weeks away.