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Tammy Petersen
For Youth Day this year, News24 undertook a special project: We gave a voice to the families of children who have died in South Africa. The aim was to hear about the children themselves, looking at what they liked doing, their personalities and personal stories about their lives. The aim was not to ask the families to relive the trauma, instead News24 wanted to give families a platform to speak about the children they lost.
Cindy Woodward will never hear her firstborn call her mommy.
In December 2016, baby Zahnia was shot and killed after being caught in gang crossfire while sitting on her father's lap in a park in Ocean View, Cape Town.
She was six months old.
He had reached down for Zahnia's dummy, which she had spat out, when the bullet hit her in the head.
He was also shot in the thigh, but still managed to drive his daughter to hospital.
Christopher September, Larry Johnson, Taswill Kriel, Morné May, Simaney Kido and Mirriam Johnson are expected to go on trial in August.
All of the suspects are known to baby Zahnia's parents, as they had grown up together.
