Mom, daughter found slain

2003-04-13 23:01

Liela Magnus

Pretoria - An elderly woman, who was confined to a wheelchair, and her daughter were apparently hacked to death with an axe in their bedroom early on Sunday morning.

Madeleen Bredenhann, 28, found the bodies of her grandmother, Albertina (Dassie) Wambach, 89, and her mother, Elmarie Bredenhann, 59, in their house in Earl Street, Dorandia, Pretoria at about 04:00.

The three women have lived together in the house for the past nine years.

The shocking murder was the fourth case of gruesome killing in Pretoria over the past two weeks.

Senior Superintendent Rudi van Olst, head of the Pretoria murder and robbery unit, said the two women were hit with an axe several times. Their bodies were found on a blood-drenched bed in one of the rooms.

"I am shocked. They wouldn't have hurt a fly," Wambach's son, Ludwig, said.

Van Olst said Madeleen heard noises in the garden shortly before midnight. She apparently got up to investigate, but could not find anything. She then went to her room and locked the door.

Inspector Anton Breedt, police spokesperson, said she heard loud bangs against the door.

"She was scared and broke the bedroom window," he said.

Van Olst said the neighbours heard the glass breaking and Madeleen told them that someone was in the house.

She went back in through the back door, which was standing open. She found her mother and grandmother's bodies in the room.

Breedt said she then drove to the nearest police station. She was still in a state of shock when police were carrying out investigations at the house on Sunday morning.

Breedt said police have not been able to determine whether anything had been stolen.

Other murders

In another murder case, the body of Cecilia Hendrina Sieberhagen, 65, was found in her house in Wierda Park on Friday morning. She was lying on her stomach in a pool of blood and was apparently hit over the head with a blunt object. Her car had been stolen.

Bennie Erasmus, 30, was strangled with an electrical cord in his house in Capital Park the previous weekend. Jan Nicolas Prinsloo, 26, has already appeared in court in connection with the murder.

About two weeks ago, Sydney Swanepoel, 29, was shot dead in cold blood in front of his children, parents and wife in a failed hijacking attempt. No suspects have been arrested.

- Beeld