Johannesburg - The haunting cries of a woman pierced the silence as a man’s body was removed from the backyard of a Phomolong house in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni.
As his body was wheeled to a mortuary around 9.30am on Thursday, neighbours watched in silence, visibly shocked. Barring the woman who wailed and another who sobbed, everyone else seemed stunned into silence.
The 22-year-old man, who the police have since identified as Tshepo Majola, had killed himself at a facebrick house in Hlongwane Street.
The night before, the man slit his children’s throats and critically stabbed their mother at a separate location in Phomolong.
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According to Gauteng police spokesman Captain Tshekiso Mofokeng, the man had at about 9.30pm on Tuesday called his two children, aged five and two, into the house while they were playing, before he killed them.
“He slit their throats with a knife and left them there,” Mofokeng said.
“He then went to a nearby tavern to find his 20-year-old girlfriend, the mother of his children. He stabbed her several times and injured her seriously.”
The man then fled the scene.
“While investigating what transpired, we received a phone call this morning (yesterday) to say there was a body in a backyard,” Mofokeng said.
As residents, friends and relatives descended on Hlongwane Street, a family friend opened up and recounted the tragic events of Tuesday night, when the man killed his children.
“There was blood everywhere. The baby boy was lying on his bed and the little girl next to the door. He just killed them,” said the woman, who identified herself only as Ivy.
“We haven’t slept, we’ve cried all night. I can’t take away what I saw, it’s all so painful,” she said.
The police would not immediately identify the man or his family.
His 42-year-old mother told The Star she couldn’t understand what transpired. She appeared dazed and confused.
“That’s my son in there, that’s my son,”said Nozimpande Majola, tears streaming down her face.
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“I don’t know, I just don’t know... why did this happen?”she asked.
Another relative, who asked to remain anonymous, said the murders didn’t feel real. “It’s terrible to lose so many lives like this, it’s a burden for the rest of our lives.”
Majola had been under a lot of stress lately, she said, adding that it could have contributed to “why he did what he did”.
Residents in Hlongwane Street said Majola’s sister, who was seen crying hysterically, lived in a house behind where Majola committed suicide.
“You never know what people are thinking or why they do the things they do,” one resident remarked.
“I need to just keep my children safe. I can’t let them see this,” the resident said, adding she had got DVDs for them to watch so that they would stay in the house.
As the mortuary van left the scene, three of the Majola sisters, along with their mother and brother, started wailing as they left the premises.
One of the sisters had to be supported by relatives after being overcome by grief.
Majola’s girlfriend was still fighting for her life in hospital late on Thursday.
Source: The Star
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