Bodies dumped; cops seek mom's friend

2003-04-28 13:58

Welkom - Northern Free State police were still trying on Monday to resolve the puzzle surrounding the murders of four boys in Welkom.

Inspector Stephen Thakeng said the police were looking for a friend of the mother of three of the boys. He said they only wanted to question the man at this stage.

Thakeng said the mother, Elizabeth Mafojane, went to police on Monday morning and identified three of the victims as her children. The fourth child was a cousin.

The bodies were found by children looking for wood among a clump of trees behind the Goldfields Regional Hospital in Thabong, near Welkom on Sunday.

The hands and feet of two of the boys were tied and they had stab wounds. The younger two had no visible injuries.

Thakeng said the children were identified as nine-year-old Petrus Mafojane and five-year-old twins Toka and Kgotso Mafojane and their cousin, 12-year-old Teboho Mafojane.

The boys had not been dead for very long when they were found and police believed that they might have been killed on Saturday.

Thakeng said police were still questioning the mother. He said from what they could gather she had not been home at the weekend.

"She apparently went away to get away from her boyfriend for a few days," he said.

"It is not yet clear when she returned home and when she realised that her children were missing."

It was believed that she left the four boys in the care of her boyfriend.

He said police did not know where the boyfriend was.

A reward of up to R20 000 is being offered for any information that can assist the police in their investigations. Anyone with information can contact Inspector Elias Tswabole on 083 998 5030.

- SAPA