'Why would they want to do this to my baby?'

A friendly, outgoing and popular Pretoria schoolgirl has been found hacked to death in her bed, her body mutilated. Anika "Tikkie" Smit, 17, whose Facebook profile was on Thursday flooded with condolences and messages of outrage from friends, was found half naked on her bed by her father, Johan, when he got home from work on Wednesday night.

Anika, who returned to her father's Theresa Park home in October after living with her mother in the Eastern Cape, was off school with an earache when she was killed. Smit on Thursday said the last thing his daughter, who was in Grade 11 at Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz, said to him was that she loved him. "Sy het gesé totsiens pa, ek is lief vir jou. (She said goodbye dad, I love you). That is the last thing my baby said to me," he said.

According to police, Anika's killers had raped and assaulted her and stabbed her repeatedly in the throat and hacked off her lower arms. The killers took her arms. Sources said the killers, who police believe knew Anika, did not steal anything and left her valuables, including her cellphone and computer, behind. Both her phone and computer are being examined by specialist police officers to see if they hold clues to the identities of her killers. According to sources there was no sign of forced entry at her home and the family's dogs were locked in the back garden. The murder of Anika, an only child, has devastated her parents. Smit said: "I am lost. "I can't go into Anika's room, because police are still busy with their investigations. "They are looking for fingerprints and clues to catch those who did this."

He said all police would tell him was that she had been stabbed six times in the neck and that they believed she had known her killers. "She was loved by so many people and had lots of friends. "Which of her friends would kill her? Why would they kill her when they loved her and she loved them?" he asked. "I just don't know. I don't understand it. Why would somebody want to do this to my baby? "Why would they want to kill her? Why would they hurt her like that?" asked her father.

Messages from friends posted on Anika's Facebook profile bore testimony to their love for her. "Hi Goggo. We are going to miss you," wrote Yvette Basson.

Ronaldo Swart, expressing his anger wrote: "You did not deserve it. I hope the... pays," while Monique Cronje wrote in her post: "I miss you and wish it could have been different." André Snyman, head of the community crime watch organisation eBlockwatch, said they had helped to find Anika after she ran away from home in 2007. "We do not know why she ran away. "For this to now happen is terrible. It's a tragedy," he said.

Police spokesperson Constable William Mahlaole confirmed Smit's lower arms had been hacked off and that they were missing. "We believe the girl, who was found half naked in her bedroom, was also raped," he said, adding that the murder weapon had not been found. Mahlaole said the motive for the murder was unknown and that nothing was missing from the house, which was found unlocked.

He said no arrests had been made and appealed to anyone with information on the identity or whereabouts of the killers to contact the police. Anyone with information on the murder can contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.

Source: IoL