A man and his three-year-old daughter were found burnt to death in their shack in Ramaphosa on December 26.
It is alleged that the father, who was with his three children, deliberately set the shack alight.
Two of his children, aged five and seven, managed to escape with minimal injuries.
According to Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson, William Ntladi, on arrival, the one-roomed shack was still gutted by fire while neighbours tried to extinguish it with water, using a bucket brigade system.
“Fire fighters took over and the blaze was extinguished in no time. Charred bodies of the father, in his forties, and a three-year-old child were found under the remains of the shack,” Ntladi said.
Paramedics declared the father and the child dead on scene, which was handed over to the police for further investigations.
Ntladi said the other two children who managed to escape apparently screamed for help and that’s when neighbours intervened. The father locked himself and the three-year-old toddler behind the door and set the shack alight.
“Frantically, neighbours tried to open the door to save the father and the child from the horror of fire but it was too late,” Ntladi said.
The two children were taken to hospital for medical and psychological treatment.
