Two armed men attacked the home of a microfinance institution treasurer in Toamasina. Her 12-year-old niece was fatally shot.
Insecurity has claimed the life of a 12-year-old girl in Toamasina. On Saturday, around 7:30 p.m., Soaline was shot dead at her home in the Mangarivotra Atsimo district, plot 21/53, during an attack carried out by two armed men.
The young girl lived with her aunt, her father’s sister, in a modest family. Her mother had abandoned her at birth, and her father worked in Ifito, in the Toamasina II district.
The aunt recounts: “We had just finished dinner. I went out into the yard when two men arrived. They pushed me inside, saying, ‘Give us the money you have.’ I replied that we had no money. They became agitated, and since they found nothing, they shot the child.”
The uncle, a truck driver, described the attack. “One of them pointed a homemade pistol at my neck and ordered me to kneel. The other held a knife to my wife’s throat. I repeated that there was no money in our house. When a neighbor screamed for help, they searched a bag near the television. It only contained a CD. As I lifted my head, a shot was fired. Shot at point-blank range, the bullet struck Soaline in the head. She died instantly.”
The attackers operated with their faces uncovered. One of them was wearing a striped and checkered shirt. According to witnesses, they claimed to have been sent to collect a sum of money. The aunt, a treasurer for a women’s microfinance fund, explained that funds had passed through her home two days earlier before being handed over to the institution. “I had already deposited the entire amount. In the evening, the bandits came saying that money had been entrusted to me. But there was nothing left at my home.”
This was not the first time the girl had been targeted. On March 12, she had been kidnapped by six women from the neighborhood and held for three days before being released. “They were all arrested, but the trial is still pending,” the aunt stated.
Soaline’s father was only able to join his family this Monday, the day of his daughter’s funeral. The teenager was supposed to take the CEPE exams two weeks ago, but was ultimately unable to attend.
Captured & Published at: 2026-06-29 06:30:17 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/06/toamasina-un-bandit-abat-une.html