LIMPOPO – A 31-year-old woman, the mother of deceased, was arrested for the murder of her eight-year-old child on Thursday afternoon.
In a statement released, Police spokesperson, Col Moatshe Ngoepe said the incident happened at around 14:15 on Thursday afternoon at Ga-Makhushane village in the outskirts of Namakgale township outside Phalaborwa.
“The police received a report that there was a child who was assaulted by her mother and died as result. They responded immediately and on arrival, they found the body of eight-year-old Varsity Leah Mabunda. She had multiple injuries throughout her body,” he explained.
Preliminary police investigations have revealed that the mother had accused the child of stealing money and then assaulted using various objects which resulted in her death, Ngoepe said in the statement.
“It is believed that the mother ran away soon after the incident but after the police launched a search operation she was arrested at a hideout in the area.”
The suspect appeared before the Namakgale Magistrate Court today (Friday 24 May) on a charge of murder and was denied bail. The case was postponed to the 31 May 2019 for bail application and for further police investigations.
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has condemned the continuous killings of children in some parts of the province. “Community members are warned not to violently punish their children regardless of the type of mistakes they have done, but they rather use other corrective measures to avoid similar incidents of occurring,” General Ledwaba concluded.
