A woman living in the house where the bodies of four frozen babies, a foetus and three placentas were found in two freezers was arrested yesterday.
The woman, 29, handed herself over to police at the Ngangelizwe police station in Mthatha yesterday morning. She was accompanied by her mother and two family members.
“We interrogated her for about two hours this morning,” police Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said.
“And we were not satisfied at all with the answers, hence we decided to arrest her. The charges that we are going to press against her are murder.
“The postmortem results tells us that there was murder,” Fatyela told the media in front of the New Brighton house where the discovery was made.
One little body was found in a freezer located in the family dining-room on Saturday afternoon and three more were found in the kitchen refrigerator, with the foetus and domestic food.
Four bodies including the foetus were in black garbage bags and the fourth was wrapped in baby clothes. The placentas were also in a black bag. One of the bodies had a shoelace wrapped around the neck.
Police took the woman to the house but she was not allowed to speak to the reporters assembled outside.
“The media is not welcome in my house, please tell them to leave me in peace,” she said to the police.
She cannot be named until she has appeared in court.
Fatyela said speculation was rife that the bodies were the result of illegal abortions or related to muti murders.
“She claims that the bodies were her own biological babies and that she was keeping them in the fridges because she loved them,” said Fatyela, adding the woman would appear in court today.
He said no other family members were considered suspects at this stage.
“ is not a suspect in this case as she was not even staying here and she has not been implicated by anyone,” he said.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch, the mother of the suspect said she had been shocked at the discovery.
“I cannot comment more about it except to say I am shocked and I did not know about all this.
“This is made complicated because there are children involved.
“My daughter has three young children who go to school and I am scared this will affect them if they hear about it,” she said.
Community members said the woman was “quiet” while others described her as “sweet”.
“I would never expect this of her,” said one neighbour.
The woman had been in Johannesburg at the time the babies were found on Saturday, attending her boyfriend’s funeral. It is believed he was the father of her three children — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Woman held for baby deaths
The woman, 29, handed herself over to police at the Ngangelizwe police station in Mthatha yesterday morning. She was accompanied by her mother and two family members.
“We interrogated her for about two hours this morning,” police Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said.
“And we were not satisfied at all with the answers, hence we decided to arrest her. The charges that we are going to press against her are murder.
“The postmortem results tells us that there was murder,” Fatyela told the media in front of the New Brighton house where the discovery was made.
One little body was found in a freezer located in the family dining-room on Saturday afternoon and three more were found in the kitchen refrigerator, with the foetus and domestic food.
Four bodies including the foetus were in black garbage bags and the fourth was wrapped in baby clothes. The placentas were also in a black bag. One of the bodies had a shoelace wrapped around the neck.
Police took the woman to the house but she was not allowed to speak to the reporters assembled outside.
“The media is not welcome in my house, please tell them to leave me in peace,” she said to the police.
She cannot be named until she has appeared in court.
Fatyela said speculation was rife that the bodies were the result of illegal abortions or related to muti murders.
“She claims that the bodies were her own biological babies and that she was keeping them in the fridges because she loved them,” said Fatyela, adding the woman would appear in court today.
He said no other family members were considered suspects at this stage.
“ is not a suspect in this case as she was not even staying here and she has not been implicated by anyone,” he said.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch, the mother of the suspect said she had been shocked at the discovery.
“I cannot comment more about it except to say I am shocked and I did not know about all this.
“This is made complicated because there are children involved.
“My daughter has three young children who go to school and I am scared this will affect them if they hear about it,” she said.
Community members said the woman was “quiet” while others described her as “sweet”.
“I would never expect this of her,” said one neighbour.
The woman had been in Johannesburg at the time the babies were found on Saturday, attending her boyfriend’s funeral. It is believed he was the father of her three children — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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