Woman attempts suicide following children’s deaths

A WOMAN who tried to commit suicide after killing her two children on Sunday night is recovering in hospital.

She is accused of hanging her one-year-old boy to death before poisoning her sevenyear-old son.

The 26-year-old from the Ebunganeni area in Mbazwana tried twice to kill herself but both attempts were unsuccessful.

Her immediate family declined to comment on this matter, but a close relative said the tragedy was triggered by a confrontation between the suspect and her mother.

'There was an altercation between the suspect and her mother on Sunday. The suspect had left her two children at home and visited her fiancê living in the Nxumalo area in Mbazwana. On Saturday her mother was very angry and she took both kids to their mother, and she allegedly made some defamatory remarks and left.

‘The suspect was forced to leave her fiancé’s residence and take her children back home. When she got home a second altercation started,’ she said.

The local Induna, Zefane Malambule said on Monday morning he was informed about the tragedy.

‘When we arrived at her home she was not there. We tried to look for her and found her on her way back from the shop. She was vomiting after trying to poison herself. She was rushed to the local clinic and transferred to the hospital where she is under 24-hour police guard.

‘According to the information that we gathered so far, it appears as if after killing her two children she tried to hang herself, but she failed as the wire she was using broke.

'She slept with her dead children, and in the early morning she went to the shop to buy poison to kill herself but vomited after drinking that poison,’ Malambule said.

The provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala said charges of murder are being investigated by Mbazwana SAPS.