The rape case that shocked South Africa: 2 toddlers aged two & three abducted and raped to death allegedly by 5 men

Horrific: Cousins Yonelisa and Zandile Mali were raped and murdered in the township of Diepsloot

Two young girls aged just two and three were kidnapped, raped and murdered in the town of Diepsloot, on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
It was an attack that spread shock and anger across a nation all too familiar with violent crime, where several sex attacks happen every minute.
Cousins Yonelisa and Zandile Mali were snatched from their doorstep in broad daylight and their bodies discovered in a public toilet nearby, on October 15.

Brazen: The girls were snatched from outside Yonelisa's house, CNN reported

Yonelisa was the only child of Thokozani Mali. She said that the girls were playing just outside the house and she was checking on them every five minutes. Then they went silent, CNN reported.

She alerted relatives, neighbours and police, who combed the area – one of the most violent places in the country - in a bid to find them.
She told CNN that she cannot bear to talk about her loss.
She said: ‘I am trying to be strong. When I am sleeping, she always next to me, so when I think of that I feel like crying.’
Five men have been arrested for the kidnap, rape and murder of the girls and briefly appeared at a Pretoria court on Thursday. Their identities have yet to be made public.
Public protests followed the discovery of the bodies, with one person holding a banner that read ‘hand these dogs over to us and the people of Diepslot’.

Distraught: Yonelisa's mother, Thokozani Mali, cannot bring herself to talk about what happened

The murder of the girls, and torture of a young boy in Katlehong, were condemned by South African President Jacob Zuma last week.
He said: ‘These gruesome incidents of extreme torture and murder of our children do not belong to the society that we are continuously striving to build together.
‘Whilst we appeal to the communities not to take the matters into their hands, we also want to urge them to work with law enforcement authorities to find the perpetrators and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.’
There are 55,000 reported cases of sexual violence a year in South Africa, according to the country's Medical Research Council. But the organisation says that the real figure is masked by the fact that many attacks go unreported.

Violent: Diepsloot is one of the most crime-ridden areas in South Africa

Culled from DAILY MAIL