Port Elizabeth – Uniondale residents protested outside court on Monday ahead of the appearance of a man accused of raping and killing an 8-year-old girl, SABC radio news reported.

The 31-year-old man was expected to appear in the Uniondale Magistrate’s Court in the southern Cape.

Community members protested outside court, saying they were sick and tired of crimes against children.

The protesters called for the death penalty to be reinstated and claimed that the man was a repeat offender, SABC reported.

Shafeeka Baartman was found with a scarf around her neck, and her legs tied with clothing at a house on Friday night, Captain Bernadine Steyn said at the weekend.

Earlier in the day, the girl was sent by her mother to a friend’s house to fetch money.

“On her way to the house [a] suspect approached her on foot and took her to his house… where he allegedly raped and murdered her,” said Steyn.

The suspect was arrested on a farm outside Uniondale on Saturday.

– SAPA