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Metro cop found in pool of blood
Date Posted: Friday 02-May-2008"My baby, my special baby is no more - she's gone."
These were Nelly Moloi's harrowing words after discovering that her youngest child, a Joburg metro police officer, had been shot in the head and killed at her boyfriend's house in Crosby, western Joburg, on Wednesday night.
Police found 25-year-old Petunia Malika's body on the bathroom floor, naked and in a pool of blood.
Speaking to The Star at their Soweto home on Thursday, the Molois said that at about 11.45pm they got the call that no parent ever wishes to receive.
"The phone rang and it was my daughter's number, so my wife answered the call saying 'Hello nana'. But instead of hearing our daughter's voice, a male voice told us to go to the Brixton police station because there was a problem," said Malika's father Stanley.
The officer would not elaborate but urged them to get to the station as soon as possible.
When he indicated they did not have transport right then, because their daughter was out at her boyfriend's house, the officer told Stanley the metro police would fetch them.
"On the way to the police station I found it strange that metro were fetching us when the police had called, but I left it," said Nelly.
"Then we stopped outside a house where there were lots of police and dogs, and I saw my daughter's car parked outside."
Now, filled with unease, they were taken to the police station where they learnt of their daughter's death.
The distraught couple were then taken back to the murder scene.
"There was blood everywhere. Her (Malika's) underwear was lying on the floor and so were her toiletries," Stanley said.
The family were shattered by the loss of their last-born.
"It's a huge blow to us. She was my little angel, and to know that my innocent child had been killed like that is devastating," he said.
In between heart-wrenching wails, Nelly said: "I didn't expect that at this juncture she would not be here anymore. I'm praying that God must help me accept it and that I can be relieved from this pain."
Inspector Edna Mamonyane of the Joburg metro police said neighbours in Crosby heard arguing and then a gunshot.
"The boyfriend is the first suspect to have been arrested in connection with the murder," she said.
Two other suspects, one believed to be the boyfriend's cousin, were being sought.
Malika's service firearm was taken from the scene for ballistic testing.