'Haunted' dad, kids burnt alive
25/03/2007 23:03  - (SA)  

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Burnt-alive mom: Dept blamed Burnt-alive mom: Dept blamed Boy burnt alive playing in car Dad, kids 'were burnt alive' Mom, daughter burned to death

Borrie la Grange, Beeld

Johannesburg - The lives of two young mothers were shattered at the weekend when the father of their children burnt himself and the two tots, both 15 months old, to death in his car.

The three died on the banks of the Vaal River near Ascott-on-Vaal in the Vereeniging area.

The mothers, one from Sebokeng, the other from Sasolburg, first noticed on Friday afternoon that something was amiss after Morena Mokoena, 25, had picked up his children.

Police spokesperson William Mcera said Mokoena first went to collect his son, Kamohelo Ditabe, in Sasolburg.

After that, he fetched his daughter, Relebohile Mokati, from her day-care centre in Vereeniging about 17:00 and drove to Ascott-on-Vaal.

Burnt beyond recognition

Mcera said: "When they couldn't find their children, both mothers phoned the police to report that the children had been kidnapped."

Mokoena parked his car in open veld about a kilometre from Ascott-on-Vaal road.

"What exactly happened is not clear, but in the course of the night Mokoena set the car alight.

"He and the two babies died in the fire and were burnt beyond recognition."

Passers-by noticed the burnt-out vehicle on Saturday morning, and phoned the police, who were still investigating the reported kidnappings.

"There was practically nothing left of the car, and the bodies of Mokoena and the two children couldn't be identified.

"The only way the vehicle could be identified was by the engine number, which corresponded with Mokoena's particulars," said Mcera.

'Things from his past haunted him'

According to Mcera, 24-year-old D A Mokati, the mother of Relebohile, said she and Mokoena, who lived alone in Steel Park, Vereeniging, were not quarrelling.

"She said he mentioned to her that things from his past were haunting him and that things were beginning to catch up with him.

"Then he would begin to cry without saying what the matter was," said Mcera.

Mokati's family said on Sunday that she was too traumatised to talk about her baby's death.