Barbara Maregele and
Francesca Villette
A PILE of bloodstained clothes and a few baby items are all that remain in the room where relatives have gathered to pay their last respects.
Late on Wednesday night, a Delft man, 38, allegedly shot dead his 34-year-old wife Ncendiwe Mbobi and her 3-month-old baby, Oniko in the same room at their home in Fafan Street, Leiden.
After he allegedly fired the gun, the man then took the couple’s two other children aged 11 and seven, and handed himself to the police.
Police spokesman Andre Traut said the motive was unknown but it appeared to be a domestic matter.
Traut said the man will appear in court once he had been charged.
Mbobi’s sister-in-law, Thembisa Mbobi, said yesterday despite the gruesome scene, she had hoped that Ncendiwe Mbobi and the baby were still alive.
“I got a call after 10pm to say something happened here. When I got to the house, I saw all the police and people standing here. When I came into the house, I saw all the clothes and baby things in all the blood, but I still thought they could be alive,” she said.
Mbobi said the couple’s children, who were in the house at the time of the shooting, had refused to talk to relatives about the incident.
“I went to fetch them and took them back to my house in Khayelitsha. They are just watching TV and don’t really want to talk to us and tell us what happened. Everyone is still in shock. I spoke to her (Ncendiwe Mbobi) a lot and she would tell me when they had problems, but not this time,” she said.
Mbobi and two other relatives described the suspect as a “quiet” and “hardworking” man who insisted on renovating his home by himself.
Mbobi pointed to a small hole in the ground where the suspect allegedly kept his gun, not far from where the shooting occurred.
She said the family knew he had a gun, but trusted him to be responsible with it.
The family are expected to meet this weekend to discuss funeral arrangements.
In another incident yesterday, police are investigating the killing of a 30-year-old man. He was shot in Delft, shortly after midnight.
“The suspect fled and is yet to be arrested,” said Traut.
Traut added that the motive was unknown, but that police were investigating.