Johannesburg - Police have confirmed that two children were injured in Tuesday night’s hostage drama at a Hillbrow block of flats.
On Thursday morning Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Tsekiso Mofokeng said that two brothers, one 11 years old and the other 3, were involved.
Mofokeng said the 41-year-old man stabbed his older son and not the 3-year-old as originally reported, and threw the younger boy from the sixth-floor blacony after the hostage drama that carried on for hours.
The man died after jumping from the building immediately after throwing the child.
Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital spokeswoman Lungiswa Mvumvu confirmed on Thursday that the 11-year-old was treated there.
“He was treated yesterday and released the same day in to the care of a relative,” she said.
The 3-year-old is still in a critical condition.
Mvumvu had no update on the boys’ mother, who was also attacked by her husband, and is in the same hospital.
On Wednesday night she was in a serious but stable condition, she said.
“She is conscious but is still drowsy following surgery. A family representative has requested us not to give out their names and to allow them some privacy as they are also mourning the death of the father,” Mvumvu said on Wednesday night.
The family has declined to comment.
Mofokeng denied speculation that the police fired shots at the man and couldn’t confirm that mattresses were placed on the ground to soften the child’s fall or whether the child had landed on them.
The motive of the hostage and stabbing is still under investigation, said the police.
The incident started with a domestic fight at the family’s home in the sixth-floor Crestview flat at about 5pm on Tuesday.
Mofokeng said the man and his wife had argued, and he had stabbed her and his son.
The woman escaped and called the police, who brought in hostage negotiators who tried for hours to resolve the situation but were unsuccessful.
“At about 1.15am, the man threw the child from the sixth-floor balcony to the ground.
“He then jumped,” said Mofokeng.
“The man was certified dead on the scene.”
Witnesses told The Star the man had thrown the child from the balcony after realising the police were climbing down to the flat from the building’s roof.
They said bystanders had piled mattresses on the ground to try to break the falls.
The Star