Mom suicidal after arrest
2009-06-26 09:56
Vanderbijlpark - The young mother who was arrested on Wednesday for the murder of her baby boy, apparently twice tried to commit suicide in her police cell.
According to a source close to the family, Wilhelmina Johanna Kraft, 23, tried to hang herself with her jacket on Wednesday night and on her birthday, on Thursday morning.
Kraft, who lives on the Stefanopark smallholdings in the Vaal triangle, reportedly first strangled or smothered her little boy, four-month-old Daniël on Wednesday.
Then she apparently placed him on Barrage Way and let a truck drive over him, before she put his body in the long, dry grass next to the road, amid prickly pears, and set the body on fire.
Other child in foster care
The place where Thinus Oosthuizen of the Vanderbijlpark police found Daniël's body, is about 200m from the gate of the smallholding where Kraft lives.
Kraft was arrested after being questioned on Wednesday. She and Daniël Labuschagne, 20, the baby's father, are also the parents of a three-year-old girl who is no longer in their care.
The child has been placed in foster care.
The couple were arrested on March 17 last year, after they had allegedly taken their daughter from her foster home in Middelburg, reported Aletta Otto.
They appeared in court the following day on the charge of disregarding a court order, but the case was dropped on August 13.
According to Gert de Beer, a neighbour, Kraft was a housewife and Labuschagne a construction worker.
"The neighbours helped with baby formula, nappies and other food and necessities," he said.
Very poor
"I don't know how these people lived. A single bed with a mattress but no blankets is some of the few pieces of furniture in their little flat."
According to De Beer, Labuschagne had to be treated for shock after he heard about the murder.
"Danny wanted to know why this had to happen to his child, but I couldn't answer him." He said Labuschagne was shattered by the news.
"I don't think Danny will be in the court to support Mimmie on Friday morning," he said.
De Beer reported the theft of his car to police, and mentioned that a neighbouring woman and her child were also missing.
"That got the ball rolling. If it hadn't been for Inspector Oosthuizen's quick action, we probably still wouldn't know that Daniël was dead," he said.
Two other people - one of Kraft's family members and a friend - were questioned by police on Thursday regarding the vehicle theft and the possibility of being accessories to the murder, but apparently they can't be tied to the crimes.
Kraft will appear in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court on Friday morning.