Charmaine Boois 

MARIENTAL – The Gochas community in the Hardap region held a peaceful march and a memorial service on Thursday in remembrance of the three girls who were brutally murdered in Okahandja.

The chairperson of the Gochas Village Council, Theresa Cloete, told Nampa local church leaders had approached the council with the idea, and they decided to involve the whole community.

“We, the Gochas community, stand in solidarity with the families who lost their precious ones. As mothers, we feel their pain and share their grief,” she said.

Cloete said what happened to five-year-old Ingrid Maasdorp; six-year-old Roswind Fabian; and Beyonce !Kharuxas (15) could happen to anyone in other towns as well.

“This is not only an Okahandja concern, but also a concern for the whole nation,” she said.

Several marches in other parts of the country took place to mourn and protest the killing of Maasdorp, who was raped and killed in March this year, and Fabian and !Kharuxas, who were killed late in April.

High school teacher Bradley Booysen, who attended the memorial service, said it was held not only to stand in grief with the families, but also to raise awareness.

“The memorial service is to honour the lives of the little ones and to share our support, because as a country, we are all grieving, but we also want to bring awareness to the children of Gochas about the danger, especially those who don’t have access to internet, as this kind of news is mostly online,” stated Booysen.

The march culminated in a memorial service held at the Epiphanias Lutheran Church. -Nampa