A 35-year-old man pleaded guilty on Friday to the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in the Cape Town suburb of Ravensmead.
Appearing in the Bellville Regional Court, James Barnes, of 11th Avenue, Ravensmead, also pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent assault.
The matter was postponed to September 5 for a date in the high court, where he will be sentenced.
Barnes was taken in for questioning on Tuesday night after the half-naked body of Celine Cowley was found in the back yard of a house in 11th Avenue earlier in the day. She had been missing since Sunday.
Police said at the time she went to a shop near her house with an eight-year-old friend to buy chips. Her friend returned home, but the little girl did not come back.
Her friend told Cowley’s parents she saw the girl go into the house where her body was found.
An autopsy was performed on Wednesday. — Sapa