‘Freezer baby’ suspect’s kids mocked

The mother of a woman arrested in connection with the “freezer baby” scandal says her grandchildren are being victimised at school.

Mona Jacobs said she was doing all she could to protect the children, aged 11, eight and four, after their mother, Melice Jacobs, was arrested on charges of murder and concealment of birth. The 29-year-old has not been asked to plead.

The bodies of four babies and two foetuses were found in two fridges at Melice’s home in New Brighton, Mthatha, on February 6.

Mona, speaking soon after her daughter made another brief appearance in the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court this week, said her grandchildren had been mocked at school since the incident.

“These children are too young to understand what has happened, but are being harassed and teased,” she said.

She said she lived about 10km from the New Brighton home where the grim discovery was made.

At the time of the discovery, Melice had been in Johannesburg for the funeral of her longtime partner, Jackson Morley, who had died after a short illness.

Mona said she had no knowledge of how the bodies of the babies had come to be in the fridge.

“People who know better than me are in New Brighton,” she said.

Mona said she had not spoken to her daughter about the incident and her priority now was to protect her grandchildren.

Meanwhile, grieving relatives of Jackson in Reiger Park, east of Johannesburg, said they were not ready to comment on anything surrounding the case and expressed concern for the wellbeing of the couple’s three young children.