Man who ran away after dropping dying toddler at PE hospital arrested for murder and rape

A 25-year-old man from Gelvandale near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape has been arrested for the alleged murder of a two-year-old boy and the alleged rape of the boy’s mother.

On Tuesday afternoon, the boy was taken to Livingstone Hospital to be treated for injuries he allegedly sustained after falling off the bed, News24 reported.

According to personnel at the hospital, an unknown man brought the child in at about 15:40. He informed them that the toddler had “fallen off a bed” and needed treatment, police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said.

“While doctors were treating him, he died. When they approached the man to inform him of the death, he ran away.”

In a statement issued on Sunday, Janse van Rensburg said Gelvandale police opened an inquest docket and an extensive search began for the child’s parents or the man who brought him to hospital.

“Several leads were followed up and, on Thursday, investigations led police to Extension 5 in Gelvandale where [they] obtained information of the mother and her 25-year-old boyfriend.”

On the same day, at about 13:00, SAPS Gelvandale members were patrolling Bethelsdorp Drive when they noticed a man holding a woman. She was allegedly crying.

“When the members stopped to question the couple, the woman informed the officers that she on her way to Livingstone Hospital to enquire about her boy.

“The members were aware of the death of the boy and they immediately notified the investigating officer. While interviewing the mother of the boy, she informed the police that while she was on her way to the hospital, her boyfriend allegedly raped her in the bushes.

“The boyfriend provided conflicting versions of what had happened to the boy.

“The case of inquest was changed to murder and the boyfriend was detained for [the] murder of the child and rape of his mother. “He is expected to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Monday.”

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