Four men accused of killing 12-year-old Emily Williams were held at a high-risk detention facility in Johannesburg overnight and preparations were being made on Thursday to take them to court, police said.
Williams, on her way to school with her mother, died when she was hit by a stray bullet in a stand-off between robbers and security guards on Tuesday morning.
”I have make my position clear, they must be denied bail, they must be remanded in custody so that we can have access to them at the maximum security detention centre,” said police spokesperson Superintendent KR Moichela.
The four would be charged with murder, attempted murder, house robbery and possession of unlicensed fire-arms.
Three of the robbers were arrested at the scene, a short while after the shooting and two firearms were recovered.
A fourth robber was arrested in Soweto late on Tuesday afternoon.
Williams, a Grade Seven pupil at Trinity House Preparatory School was in her mother’s BMW X3 with her 10-year-old sister Sophie and two other pupils when they stopped to pick up classmate Alison Saunders at her home in Fairlands at 7am on Tuesday.
A robber came out of the house instead of the schoolgirl. Emily’s mother asked him who he was, but he ignored her and went back inside.
Suspecting something was wrong she called Chubb Security.
The robber and an accomplice — who had earlier attacked the Saunders family — opened fire when the security guards arrived.
Emily was struck while in the car.
Realising her daughter had been shot, her mother began driving to the Wilgeheuwel Hospital. On the way she met up with paramedics at a petrol station in CR Swart Drive. Despite their efforts to save the girl, she died.
Trinity House Preparatory School will hold a memorial service in the school hall on Monday. ‒ Sapa