Durban - Police are hunting for a man accused of hacking to death a woman and a 2-year-old child with a bush knife near Phoenix, north of Durban, yesterday.
The incident occurred on Solly Mathe Road in Mount Royal, a housing scheme between Phoenix and KwaMashu.
A reliable source said a 30-year-old woman was found with slash wounds to her upper body. Next to her was a 2-year-old girl who had similar injuries. The girl was alive when found, but died en route to hospital. A blood-stained bush knife found at the scene is believed to be the murder weapon.
Police believe a man known to the two is responsible for their murders.
eThekwini ward councillor Pete Graham said the suspect had been renting a room on the property.
It is alleged the woman and her daughter came to visit him yesterday when they were attacked.
Graham said the landlord of the premises was at work at the time.
“It was a bloody scene. It was a vicious assault on a harmless child and her mother. The community was in shock when I got there. I urged them not to take the law into their own hands, but rather feed police any information they might have on the perpetrator,” he said.
The incident follows the discovery of the bodies of two women near the Poly Clinic in KwaMashu on Tuesday. Both women, in their twenties, had gunshot wounds to their heads. They had not been identified by yesterday.
Glen Naidoo, spokesperson for private security company KZN VIP Unit, said paramedics were called to the scene at 11am. He said the neighbours had rushed to the house when they heard the victims scream.
“Paramedics found two severely injured victims in a pool of blood. The woman had deep lacerations to both hands and to her head.
“The girl had wounds on her head. Paramedics stabilised the girl. She died while transporting her to the hospital,” he said.
Naidoo said the suspect fled and escaped despite an effort by police dogs to track his whereabouts in the nearby bushes.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said the woman was declared dead at the scene.
The police were still searching for the killer yesterday afternoon, he said.
Phoenix police station is investigating two counts of murder.
Daily News