Cops search for missing mother of two dead children

Pretoria police were today still searching for the mother of two girls, who were found dead in their house in Theresa Park yesterday.

“She has not been found, we are still searching,” said Constable William Mahlaole.

Asked if reports that the mother had been kidnapped were true, Mahlaole said anything was possible. “She could have been kidnapped as her house was found in disarray.”

The bodies of a four-year-old girl and her eight-month-old sister were found by a friend of their mother when she visited their house yesterday. The mother and her car were nowhere to be found.

Police confirmed that there were no signs of forced entry.

Beeld newspaper reported today that the missing mother had been married to the cousin of Sydney Mufamadi, the former minister of provincial and local government.

Her husband died in a car crash in February.

Mahlaole said it was thought the four-year-old girl had been drowned because there was water in a bath nearby. Her little sister is believed to have been smothered with a hat that was still fixed to her face when police got to the house. No visible bruises or wounds were visible on either of the children.

Mahlaole said the friend of the mother visited the house to deliver a parcel when she suddenly realised that the door of the house was wide open.

She called out for the mother but there was no response so she phoned the local security company, Mahlaole said.

The security company arrived and together they inspected the house. They found that the house was in disarray and that it had a rancid odour.

The missing mother last spoke to her family members on Thursday, said Mahlaole.

Police are investigating the cause of the children’s deaths.

- SAPA