Case against mother accused of murdering her kids postponed due to illness

The case against a 32-year-old woman accused of murdering her four children has been postponed.

Nomboleko Simayile appeared in the Ngcobo Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said Simayile will be back in the dock on 29 November.

Mother falls ill

“The court postponed the matter in her absentia as she was transferred to hospital after she fell ill in the holding cells.”

“Prosecutor Lindelwa Totyi told the court that the state intends applying for the accused to be referred for observation in accordance with Section 77 of the Criminal Procedure Act on her next appearance, as there is reasonable suspicion that she is not mentally fit to stand trial,” the NPA‘s Tyali said.

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Arrest

Simayile was arrested earlier this month after she allegedly bludgeoned her four children to death with a sledgehammer

It is alleged Simayile told her father that she had killed her two boys and two girls, aged 11, 9, 5 and 2.

“They had been sleeping with her in a rondavel at heir homestead in the Tsalaba area in the district of Ngcobo, while her aged parents were sleeping in a separate flat within the same homestead.  The father alerted his wife and summoned the community members after making the gruesome discovery of his grandchildren,” Tyali said.

Motive

The children’s grandfather Mthundezi Simayile believes that his daughter was not in the right frame of mind when she allegedly murdered her children.

“We don’t blame her; there is something that triggered her.”

“Women are often lied to about being loved by their partners and it reaches a point where they realise that they are not loved,” Simayile told Newzroom Afrika.

Abirah Dekhta kidnapping

Meanwhile, the bail application of seven men arrested in connection with the kidnapping of 8-year-old Abirah Dekhta has also been postponed.

They appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe

ALSO READ: Abirah Dekhta kidnapping: Suspects’ bail application postponed