Charlene Nyasha Makaza

Professor Martin testified that Charlene's injuries: brain damage, bowel sloughing, lung injuries and bleeding in her eyes, were in keeping with suffocation and the lacerations of her hymen and anus were consistent with blunt penetrative trauma. Although Charlene's organs showed signs of chronic HIV infection, these changes alone could not explain her overnight deterioration and subsequent demise... But even if Charlene did not die in a brutal sexual assault on the night of January 5 2007, the fact remains that an African child contracted a preventable virus, was orphaned by the disease and then failed to receive appropriate medical care because of fear of deportation, or of stigma, or because of neglect. Tragically, the only unique facet of that part of Charlene's story is its exotic location. Source: Martinique Stilwell https://mg.co.za/article/2013-02-01-00-who-killed-charlene-makaza/

What the public didn't hear about the death of Charlene Makaza. Charlene had contracted HIV at birth from her mother Senzeni who died of HIV-related tuberculosis when Charlene was nearly two. Senzeni's husband Edgar also died of Aids in 2000. Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/feature-archive/...

Coroner Peter Ryan has ruled that he accepts the jury's verdict that the cause of 10-year-old Charlene Makaza's death was not suffocation, as had been claimed by the Crown when they pursued charges of murder and sexual violation against her uncle George Gwaze over her death in 2007. Source: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/coroner-accepts-george-...