Community protests outside court after suspect appears for 7-year-old girl's rape and killing

Scores of protesters gathered outside the Verulam Magistrate's Court on Tuesday following the arrest of a Durban man in connection with the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl at the weekend.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Thembeka Mbele said that the girl was raped and then stabbed in the chest in Waterloo on Saturday.

“She was taken to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. A 26-year-old man was arrested by Verulam police for murder and rape‚” she said.

The protesters - members of the community in which the little girl lived - were objecting to the suspect being granted bail.