SA kidnap girl's body in suitcase

The father of a 10-year-old South African girl, whose body was found in a suitcase days after her kidnap, has spoken of his grief.

Lingse Naidoo said his daughter Marissa was the "sparkle in her father's eye".

She was picked up from her school in Benoni, near Johannesburg, by a man claiming to be a relative.

As police approached the third-floor flat where Marissa's suffocated body was discovered, a man jumped to his death from the balcony.

Mr Naidoo said he had twice gone to pay a 500,000 rand ($78,000) ransom demand, but the kidnapper did not show up.

This is very, very sad Gauteng Police Commissioner Perumal Naidoo

"Marissa used to come home and teach [her brother] Dylan on the blackboard. He keeps asking where Marissa is. Maybe he will understand when he sees the coffin," Mr Naidoo told The Star newspaper.

Gauteng Police Commissioner Perumal Naidoo said Marissa had died long before police arrived at the flat.

Her mouth was covered in cling film.

"This is very, very sad and we need to get to the bottom of what happened," he said.