Nine-year-old Delft rape victim dies

The nine-year-old girl who was set alight after being raped in Delft, Cape Town, three months ago, has died, Western Cape police said on Tuesday.

Spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said the girl died on Tuesday morning at the Red Cross Children's Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment.

The girl was found by relatives after a 27-year-old man allegedly raped her then set her alight in bushes along the R300 highway.

The man abandoned his bail application during his last appearance in the Bellville Magistrate's Court in January.

He faces charges of rape, sexual assault, abduction and attempted murder, and is expected back in court on March 27.

The National Prosecuting Authority said the man could not be identified as he had not yet pleaded.