A Mpumalanga woman, accused of killing her four children, is currently in hospital and under heavy police guard.
Zemhle Zinhle Maditla appeared in absentia in the eMalahleni Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, facing four counts of murder. The case was postponed to Monday, January 7.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said, in a statement over the weekend, that the woman had called her family members and told them to go check her house.
“They reportedly went there and were met by a gruesome scene where dead bodies of her four children – aged between 11 months and eight years – were wrapped in blankets inside the house,” he said.
Hlathi said the mother, the two girls and two boys were last seen on December 26, and “seemed well at the time”.
The woman turned herself in on Sunday at the Vosman police station.
Upon her arrest, Hlathi said that the police observed that Maditla was weak and took her to a hospital, raising suspicions that she might have attempted to take her own life.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s Monica Nyuswa said that the woman had appeared in absentia because she was in hospital.
It is not yet clear if she will be ready to appear in the dock when the case is heard again.
SOURCE NEWS 24