By Themba Sepotokele
A blood-splattered carpet and blood-stained axe on Sunday bore brutal testimony to the horror killing of a two-year-old boy - allegedly at the hand of his mother.
The 26-year-old woman - who has been seen on South African television screens in the top-rated SABC1 soap Generations, as well as the popular sitcom Emzini Wezinsizwa and the SABC2 drama Justice For All - was arrested on Sunday for murder.
The woman is said to have believed that her young son was "possessed by the devil" when she hacked him to death with an axe and gouged out his eyes with a screwdriver.
The horror continued when she then allegedly placed a hot iron on the eyeballs.
The tragic events took place on Sunday morning, after which the woman was said to have remained in the house with the body.
Hours later, relatives and friends found her sitting and singing in her bedroom while her son lay in a pool of blood.
The crime was discovered when a friend, who lives in the house, went to the actress' bedroom and came across the gruesome scene. She said she saw the child lying on the floor with a Bible placed on his head.
The friend then ran to tell the woman's brother, who lives in a room outside the main house.
Still wearing the gloves he put on to clean up his nephew's blood, the woman's brother stood motionless next to the gate as neighbours and relatives streamed to the house to offer their sympathy.
He told how he ran into his sister's bedroom and was shocked to find her singing while her son was lying in a pool of blood.
"His (the baby's) brain was scattered all over the floor and his eyes were gouged out. She had put a hot iron over the tiny eyes," he said.
The actress's aunt said her niece allegedly killed her son because she claimed he was possessed. "It is suspected that the child had HIV, hence she claimed that he was possessed."
A woman is expected to appear in the Soweto magistrate's court on Monday.