Three families in South Africa were destroyed on Christmas Day after fathers shot their wives and daughters before killing themselves.
The sheer desperation of a Durban dad whose family was about to be evicted from their home led to him killing his wife and stepdaughter before taking his own life.
In a similar incident on Friday, in Postmasburg, near Kimberley, a man shot his daughter and wife before shooting himself.
And in Pretoria a family watched in horror as their father shot their mother in the head before turning his gun on himself minutes after opening presents on Christmas Day.
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| 'She feared he might get hold of the gun and want to shoot himself' |
The triple killing in Mayville, Durban, on Christmas Day has shocked residents living in the block of flats where it occurred.
Colin King, 43, felt that he had no future after he had received a notice that his flat would be auctioned because the rates on the flats had not been paid by the body corporate.
It is alleged that King had an argument with his wife, Lenona, 40, and stepdaughter Simone, 17, in the early hours of the morning. He shot Simone several times then turned the gun on his wife and shot her before shooting himself in the head. The three died instantly.
King's two stepsons, whose names are being withheld, are incredibly lucky to have survived. A 15-year-old had locked himself in the bedroom while his four-year-old brother was apparently outside the flat.
A close friend of the family, Sam Adams, told the Saturday Star that a week before the incident Lenona had come crying to him after receiving a letter stating that they would lose their flat.
| 'He was not taking the eviction notice well' |
"She said that she was worried about her husband because he was not taking the eviction notice well. She even had the keys to the safe around her neck as she feared he might get hold of the gun and want to shoot himself."
Adams said that on Christmas Eve, King had told him that he was upset about the eviction and that he was going to do something about it.
He said that King had told him he had paid the money to the body corporate but the money has not been sent to the municipality and that his flat alone was in arrears for R86 000 in rates and the five blocks of flats in the complex were in arrears for more that R1-million.
In Postmasburg, also on Christmas Day, Northern Cape police reported that Andries Louwrens Pretorius, 42, shot his daughter, Anette Pretorius, in the head with a firearm at their home in Jonas Street. She died instantly.
Her friend tried to intervene, but Pretorius fired a shot at her. She managed to escape unhurt.
As she fled, she heard two more gun shots being fired after which she reported the incident to the police.
Police found Pretorius and his wife Sophia Johanna Pretorius, 46, lying in a pool of blood with bullet wounds to the head and mouth respectively. The couple's other children, aged three and 11, were also present when the incident occurred but were not injured.
Inspector Tony Modise said that the police had confiscated two firearms and five cartridges. - Own Correspondents and Sapa.
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