The mother of five-year-old child Kungawo Mabusela, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in Potsdam this week, has made a confession to police and is likely to turn state witness.
The woman, 27, will appear in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court today with her boyfriend, 31, the main suspect and the child’s stepfather.
The Daily Dispatch has learnt that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is expected to charge the two with murder following startling evidence that the abused child may have been alive when she was buried.
It is believed that the child was severely beaten by her stepfather on the night of June 10 before she was wrapped in a duvet and dumped in the shallow grave.
Police discovered her remains on Wednesday next to the graves of two other tiny siblings – all buried in their granny’s garden.
This led police to investigate the circumstances leading to the deaths of the other two girls, who were nine months and five months old when they died in 2014 and 2016.
There had been initial suspicion that foul play could have been involved but this was ruled out by the police, with spokesman Nkosikho Mzuku saying the two infants had died of natural causes.
“We investigated and discovered that there is no foul play. It is alleged that the babies fell ill and later died of their illness. Their deaths were reported to authorities. These graves will not be exhumed,” Mzuku said.
Inyibiba police station’s serious and violent crimes investigating officer, Detective-Sergeant Curvin Marshall, who is leading the investigation into the death of Kungawo, met with the Mdantsane senior public prosecutor yesterday to discuss the case.
Information at the disposal of the Dispatch is that the mother told the police that following the severe beating of the child by her boyfriend, she had provided him with a duvet to cover the child.
“The woman told police that the community ridiculed and laughed at the boyfriend for supporting a child that was not his.
“He apparently got angry that day and attacked the child with a stick until she fell unconscious. The mother says she tried to intervene but was overpowered by the boyfriend.
“When the child was lying there unconscious, the mother says she handed him a duvet which he used to cover her limp body and dispose of it.
“She believes the child was still alive,” said a highly placed source with intimate knowledge of the case, who could only talk on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Police were tipped off about the case of the five-year-old on Tuesday evening and immediately rushed to the scene, where the suspect pointed out the grave.
The badly decomposed body of the child was exhumed at noon on Wednesday, still neatly covered with the duvet.
Mdantsane police spokesman Mzuku said the girl’s death was never reported to the authorities.
Mzuku said police were still waiting for postmortem results from the state mortuary in NU1.
It also emerged yesterday that the mother was unemployed, while the stepfather worked as a security guard.
The couple are in custody.
Neighbours who spoke to the Dispatch yesterday said they last saw Kungawo seated on top of a rock outside her home.
She had cut a lonely figure and looked sad after she had stopped playing with the other children.
Beaten tot may have been buried alive
The mother of five-year-old child Kungawo Mabusela, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in Potsdam this week, has made a confession to police and is likely to turn state witness.
The woman, 27, will appear in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court today with her boyfriend, 31, the main suspect and the child’s stepfather.
The Daily Dispatch has learnt that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is expected to charge the two with murder following startling evidence that the abused child may have been alive when she was buried.
It is believed that the child was severely beaten by her stepfather on the night of June 10 before she was wrapped in a duvet and dumped in the shallow grave.
Police discovered her remains on Wednesday next to the graves of two other tiny siblings – all buried in their granny’s garden.
This led police to investigate the circumstances leading to the deaths of the other two girls, who were nine months and five months old when they died in 2014 and 2016.
There had been initial suspicion that foul play could have been involved but this was ruled out by the police, with spokesman Nkosikho Mzuku saying the two infants had died of natural causes.
“We investigated and discovered that there is no foul play. It is alleged that the babies fell ill and later died of their illness. Their deaths were reported to authorities. These graves will not be exhumed,” Mzuku said.
Inyibiba police station’s serious and violent crimes investigating officer, Detective-Sergeant Curvin Marshall, who is leading the investigation into the death of Kungawo, met with the Mdantsane senior public prosecutor yesterday to discuss the case.
Information at the disposal of the Dispatch is that the mother told the police that following the severe beating of the child by her boyfriend, she had provided him with a duvet to cover the child.
“The woman told police that the community ridiculed and laughed at the boyfriend for supporting a child that was not his.
“He apparently got angry that day and attacked the child with a stick until she fell unconscious. The mother says she tried to intervene but was overpowered by the boyfriend.
“When the child was lying there unconscious, the mother says she handed him a duvet which he used to cover her limp body and dispose of it.
“She believes the child was still alive,” said a highly placed source with intimate knowledge of the case, who could only talk on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Police were tipped off about the case of the five-year-old on Tuesday evening and immediately rushed to the scene, where the suspect pointed out the grave.
The badly decomposed body of the child was exhumed at noon on Wednesday, still neatly covered with the duvet.
Mdantsane police spokesman Mzuku said the girl’s death was never reported to the authorities.
Mzuku said police were still waiting for postmortem results from the state mortuary in NU1.
It also emerged yesterday that the mother was unemployed, while the stepfather worked as a security guard.
The couple are in custody.
Neighbours who spoke to the Dispatch yesterday said they last saw Kungawo seated on top of a rock outside her home.
She had cut a lonely figure and looked sad after she had stopped playing with the other children.
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