Dad throws kids off bridge
2004-04-19 17:25
Riot Hlatshwayo
Tzaneen - A Limpopo father appeared in court on Monday on charges of bashing his two young daughters on the rails of a bridge before tossing them in the river below to avoid paying child maintenance.
Maselo Morgan Malatjie, 39, of Makwibiding village near Tzaneen was not asked to plead on two counts of murder when he appeared in the Tzaneen magistrate's court.
He was remanded pending his next court appearance on May 5.
His daughters, Mokgadi, 5, and Madikoane, 3, were killed at about 13:00 on Friday, said spokesperson for the Mopane police region, Captain Moatshe Ngoepe, on Monday.
Witnesses told police that they saw a man walking with the children as though sight-seeing on the bridge over the Great Letaba River in Letsitele outside Tzaneen.
One woman told police that she saw the man grab each child by their legs, bang their head against the rails, and then drop them into the water below.
She ran to try help them, but fainted when she couldn't get to them on time.
An off-duty policeman who was driving by arrested the man and called for back-up from Letsitele police station.
The children's bodies were removed from the water.
- African Eye