Old couple quizzed on dead kids
2005-01-24 18:10
Johannesburg - Police said on Monday they were questioning an elderly couple after five children were found murdered in a scrapyard on their premises in eastern KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend.
The bodies of the three boys and two girls, aged between three and five, were found covered in mysterious blisters in a wrecked car at Msinga, said police spokesperson Buhle Ngidi.
"On Saturday, the children went to a neighbourhood to play as usual and they did not return to their homes.
Ngidi said: "Members of the community and their parents were searching for the children and found them in a car wreck.
"They had blisters all over their bodies, but only a post-mortem will be able to tell us the cause of death."
He said a 70-year-old man and 65-year-old woman, who lived on the premises where the car wreck was found, were taken in for questioning on Sunday.
"They haven't been arrested, but we are questioning them," said Ngidi.
Angry residents burnt down the home in which the couple lived and a case of arson had been opened, he said.
The SABC reported that the killings might be "muti murders", which involves the removal of body parts to make medicines believed to contain magical powers.