Johannesburg - Authorities and neighbours are still baffled about what could have driven a mother to hurl her toddler son off a Joburg building.
Moments after she allegedly propelled the boy five floors from the ground, she then committed suicide by jumping from the San Martin apartment block in Hillbrow this weekend.
Police spokesman Captain Richard Munyai said that both the child and his mother were confirmed dead at the scene.
"A case of murder and an inquest docket has been opened."
Munyai explained that at around 8pm on Sunday night, the 41-year-old woman allegedly threw her five-year-old son from the balcony of their flat, which is on the fifth floor of the building.
He said that just minutes later, the woman then also lept from the same balcony.
Munyai said the motive of the incident was still unknown and that the matter was under investigation.
Residents at the apartment block were also puzzled at what could have caused the mother to allegedly murder her child and then later kill herself.
One of the neighbours who didn't want to be named told The Star that he knew the woman and her family well and that he was struggling to understand what drove her to such extreme behaviour.
"The woman lived in the building with her husband, the boy and another teenage child," he said.
"They were always quiet and I never heard them fight before."
But on Sunday night, the neighbour said a child's scream suddenly shattered "the quietness at the house".
"I heard a child scream but I thought they were playing outside," he said.
"When I looked outside, I saw the child lying on the ground and about five minutes later the mother jumped from the same building."
Despite the tragedy that struck the inner city area, it was business as usual yesterday (Tuesday) morning, just mere hours after the woman and child's death.
As the streets alongside the building were filled with passersby and motorists, there was no visible signs of the pair's murder.
Just five months ago, another youngster sustained critical injuries at the hands of his parent when he was stabbed to death and then also thrown from a Hillbrow building.
In July, the three-year-old's father held him hostage for hours at the Crest View apartment block before throwing him from the sixth-floor balcony of their Hillbrow flat.
While the child managed to survive the incident, his father died after jumping from the same balcony and was apparently also shot by police as he fell to his death.
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