The Kimberley police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide after a Platfontein man stabbed his girlfriend and then later killed himself.
THE KIMBERLEY police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide after a Platfontein man stabbed his girlfriend and then later killed himself.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Timothy Sam said preliminary investigations indicate that the deceased couple – a 22-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, Lee-Aan Kgomotso Mutshavanga – were involved in an altercation in Platfontein that resulted in Mutshavanga being injured on September 8.
Sam said Mutshavanga was transported to Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital in Kimberley but later succumbed to her injuries after being discharged.
“Upon hearing the news of her death, the 22-year-old boyfriend allegedly committed suicide,” said Sam.
Both of them died at their respective homes in Platfontein on September 10.
The Mutshavanga family meanwhile plans on taking legal action against the Northern Cape Department of Health as they blame the hospital for negligence and for “trampling on their human rights”.
According to the family, Mutshavanga was stabbed with a knife in the lower abdomen and in her arm on Friday, September 8 and an ambulance was called, but it never arrived.
A family representative told the DFA that they managed to secure alternative transport to rush Mutshavanga to Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH) in the evening.
He added that she was discharged from the hospital on September 9, at around 4am.
“The doctor said the wound in her abdomen was small and not as dangerous as the one on her arm. She spent the whole day in bed on Saturday. She started experiencing complications on Sunday … her abdomen started swelling, she was passing out and vomiting black stuff,” said the family representative.
“We started calling the ambulance from around lunchtime and were told it was coming. Later, we were told that there were no ambulances available.
“We finally got transport to return her to hospital, but she was declared dead at the hospital.
“When we contacted the boyfriend’s family to give them the sad news, we learnt that he had just committed suicide by hanging himself.”
He said the family believed that if an ambulance had arrived on time it could have saved Mutshavanga’s life.
“The ambulance never came to our home. We had to hire a car to take her to the hospital … the second time too.
“When she started suffering complications we were afraid of mishandling her, thus we desperately needed the ambulance.”
The family said they were very sad and disappointed because “two lives could have been saved if the ambulance had pitched up”.
“It is very sad because we could have allowed the law to take its course if our daughter had been saved.”
The family said they are still awaiting the post-mortem results and expect to bury the couple sometime next week.
The Northern Cape Department of Health had not responded to media enquiries by the time of publication.
