Cape Town – A 32-year-old woman is expected to appear in the Engcobo Magistrate’s Court soon on four charges of murder.
This comes after the woman was arrested on Wednesday morning in the Mhlabubomvu locality in Engcobo, for allegedly murdering her four children.
According to the Eastern Cape provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said the children were between 2 and 11 years old and sustained injuries to the upper part of their bodies.
“According to the report, the 32-year-old mother with her four children aged between 2 and 11, were sleeping in their home in the village, when in the morning, four deceased bodies of the children were found in the rondavel hut where they were sleeping.
“Preliminary investigation reveals that they had been assaulted by their own mother with a sledgehammer. Consequently, they suffered serious injuries to their upper bodies,” Kinana said.
He said the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation by police.
Kinana said the mother was arrested and is expected to appear in court once she has been charged.
In an unrelated incident, a 26-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal is expected to appear in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on charges of robbery and attempted murder.
He was arrested on Monday, after he managed to flee the scene where he robbed a police detective of his service pistol.
Police said on October 2, the police detective was attending to a murder scene along Jabula Road in Kwamashu Hostel when he was ambushed by the suspect while he was waiting for his colleague.
As he was being robbed, another police officer responded and there was a shoot-out with the officer and the suspect.
The suspect fled.
During his arrest police also found him in possession of a pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition.
IOL