Johannesburg - A commotion coming from the shack where Sipho Gumede’s* (not his real name) daughter and grandchildren slept woke him in the middle of the night. He pulled on his clothes and went to check on his family. When he got there, the door was open. It was dark and he couldn’t see a thing.
What Gumede didn’t know was that his daughter had already been murdered in her bed, allegedly axed to death by her 14-year-old son.
Another son, 5, was mutilated before he was killed. His cries had drawn the attention of his grandmother, who ran for help but was cut down by the same assailant just outside the shack.
The final victim was a three-month-old baby girl who was tossed into the veld in Barcelona township, near Benoni. She also died.
“All the family have been having a terrible time,” said Gumede, shaking his head.
“Sometimes we see a family with four coffins at once, but only from a distance. Now it’s happening to us. It’s painful,” he said.
The 14-year-old boy was scheduled to appear in court on Monday on charges of murdering his family on Friday morning.
But he never made it because he is being treated in hospital for bodily injuries.
A mob of residents – young and old – had struck him with their bare fists, with stones and whatever trash was lying in the streets after he was located in the veld following the attacks.
Now he is healing under police supervision, and the family haven’t communicated with him since the incident.
It is unclear what the boy’s motives could have been, but Gumede suspects drug abuse.
Before the murders, he recalled, his grandson was pacing around the house in a seemingly manic state of mind, sniffing glue and harassing his family.
“When he didn’t sniff glue, he was a good boy. But when he sniffed glue he was a completely different person. He was wild,” Gumede said.
The neighbourhood kids remember him as always being on drugs, and not just glue.
His family allegedy knew he was part of satanism church.
Phumulani Mthimkhulu, another Barcelona youth, said he often saw the boy loitering with a group of friends, regularly using nyaope and dagga.
“He was a stubborn boy, misbehaving even in school. He never attended church. He did a lot of drugs,” Mthimkhulu said.
The accused’s twin brother and sister survived the slayings, having escaped from their beds while their grandmother was being hacked to death. They ran for help on the night of the attack and brought back others who chased the alleged murderer into the dark.
* The boy cannot be named as he is a minor, so his grandfather’s name was changed to protect his identity.
The Star