Girl, 6, believes murdered mom will come home

The six-year-old daughter of murder victim Tenile Cupid still believes that her mother is alive and will return home soon to help with her schoolwork and supervise her during online classes, as she would usually do every morning.

Relatives said they have tried to explain to the standard one student that her mother will not be returning home.

Cupid, 23, was a labourer with the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP). Her body was found on Wednesday dumped near a Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) installation in Santa Flora.

A relative said while the child appears to be playing as normal, her responses show a silent cry for help and she needs counselling.

“This is no easy task, to tell a child that her mother will not be returning home. We left out the gruesome details of what happened to her mother.

"She will be staying with her grandmother.

"We thought she understood, but then she said to me later that night, ‘Mama is coming to help me with my schoolwork just now.’”

The relative said she did not know how to respond.

She said moments later while playing the girl also broke an accessory belonging to her aunt and told her, ‘Don’t worry, when Mama comes home she will buy it back.' It is just heartbreaking.”

The relative said the girl and her four-year-old brother were their mother’s world.

“I am not saying this to speak highly of her because she is dead, but Tenile was an outstanding young mother. She would leave home early, go to work and would return just in time when her children's online classes begin. She would sit with them for hours, from the beginning to end of classes, making sure that they are paying attention.”

The relative said Cupid was a single mother who worked hard to provide for her children.

“She made sure her children never wanted or needed anything. They knew Mummy was always there no matter what. She was there for her children. For every school project, she would be there making sure they completed it. Her dream was for her children to succeed.”

Three weeks ago Cupid ended a three-year relationship. On Tuesday she left the family’s home at Easy Street, Fyzabad in a man's car, telling her mother she would return shortly.

That was the last time her mother Nathalie Manzano saw her. The next day she reported Cupid missing.

Police have detained a Siparia man for questioning in connection with the killing.