Two women were hacked to death with a cane knife and the mother of a suspect was injured when a man allegedly went on the rampage.
|||Durban - Two women were hacked to death with a cane knife and the mother of the suspect was injured when a man allegedly went on the rampage this weekend.
Three houses, including his own, were burned down allegedly by him, while members of the community were hunting him down.
Police searched through the night for the 27-year-old man before taking him into custody at 5.30am. He is expected to appear in court soon.
His family said he was released from prison on Wednesday after serving less than two months for unrelated cases of assault.
After four days back in his home village of Ndwedwe, near oThongathi (Tongaat), he had an argument with his 21-year-old girlfriend, Sibongile Ngidi, who was visiting him with their two-year-old son.
Ngidi’s aunt, Neliswa Myeza, said his family had told her the couple had been arguing about his drunken state and where he had got the money to buy alcohol.
Myeza said they heard his girlfriend’s screams, and she had evidently run to the man’s mother for help.
She was in another room.
Ngidi was attacked with a cane knife and died. His mother, who witnessed the incident, tried to intervene and was also injured. She was taken to hospital. Another relative, Dudu Khoza, 53, heard the screams and went to investigate.
Khoza, accompanied by her daughter, Phindile, 30, went to the house and when they arrived, according to Phindile, the man turned on her mother.
She said that as he attacked her mother, he continued to blame her for his misfortunes. She fled to get help, and found her father was already on his way to the house to see what was happening.
The suspect ran off into the nearby forest and the community and police searched for him during the night.
Khoza died of her injuries.
The homes of two relatives, as well as the man’s was burned down allegedly by the suspect, during the night.
The families of the man and his victims were in shock when the Daily News visited the scene on Sunday. Ngidi’s father, Mzikayise Ngidi, spoke of a volatile relationship between his daughter and the suspect.
He also said the family had never approved of their relationship. “He was disrespectful not only to my daughter, but to the whole family; he would come and go as he pleased,” Ngidi said.
“The only time my daughter was free from his antics was while he was in prison.”
Dudu Khoza’s husband, Mzothini Khoza, said he and his six children were devastated by the killing. Their son, Sabelo, said there had been bad blood between the attacker and his mother.
On Sunday police spokesman, Colonel Vincent Mdunge, said he was still trying to make contact with the local police station on the matter and could not comment further.
Daily News