News24 | Mom arrested after putting toddler’s body in suitcase and taking it to cops 30km away

A woman was arrested after handing police a suitcase with her child’s body inside.

•  An Eastern Cape mom has been arrested for culpable homicide in connection with the death of her 3-year-old child.
• She reportedly left the child unattended overnight.
• When she found the child unresponsive, she allegedly put her in a suitcase and travelled with it by taxi for 30km.

An Eastern Cape woman has been arrested on charges of culpable homicide, child neglect and defeating the ends of justice after putting her body in a suitcase and taking it to police.

According to police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli, it is believed that the woman left her child unattended at home in Mzamba on Sunday while she visited her boyfriend.

“Upon her return the following day, she claimed to have found the child unresponsive near the door,” Nkohli added.

Instead of seeking immediate medical or police assistance, she allegedly put the child in the suitcase “and transported it via taxi from Mzamba to the Mbizana police station, covering a distance of approximately 30 kilometres, where she then reported the death”.

The woman was arrested after presenting the suitcase to officers at the police station.

She is scheduled to appear in the Mbizana Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday facing charges of culpable homicide, child neglect and defeating the ends of justice.

READ | 5-year old dies after gang shooting in Manenberg, three people arrested

Last month, a Gauteng mother was sentenced to eight years in jail, wholly suspended for five years, by the Gauteng High Court sitting in Benoni after she was found to have laced her two children’s food with rat poison, killing one of them.

She claimed that she was pushed over the edge after she was scammed, had fallen into debt with loan sharks, and found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and tested positive for HIV.

In March, a KwaZulu-Natal woman, Teneil Kok, was found guilty of using a rolling pin to beat her 3-year-old child. When the child soiled herself, she strangled and killed her.

The murder happened in 2022 and the KwaZulu-High Court in Durban sentenced the mother to 20 years in prison last week.