Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old mother is in hospital under police guard after allegedly killing both her children and then drinking a poisonous substance.
DURBAN – The police have confirmed that a 26-year-old KwaZulu-Natal mother is in hospital under police guard after she allegedly killed both her children and then drank a poisonous substance.
The incident took place in the Bunganeni area in Umhlabuyalingana.
It is alleged the mother forced her nine-year-old son to drink a poisonous substance, while her one-year-old son was strangled to death with a fence wire.
It is further alleged that the mother attempted to kill herself by drinking a poisonous substance but was found alive. According to police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala, she was taken to hospital, where she remains under police guard.
KZN MEC for Social Development Nonhlanhla Khoza has extended her heartfelt condolences to the family and dispatched a team of social workers to provide psycho-social support.
“We are taken aback by the brutal killing of innocent children. We would have preferred that the mother was able to share her challenges with social workers so that they can help her and her children. We are in so much pain for losing such innocent souls like this,“ said Khoza.
The MEC said the department had various programmes to ensure the protection of children, such as removing them from dangerous places to be placed in alternative care, including child and youth care centres.
Khoza pleaded with the communities to play their role in ensuring that children were protected at all times.
In another incident, a KZN mother is accused of killing her three-year-old daughter with a wooden rolling pin.
The woman has been arrested.
