Cape Town - A Mitchells Plain mother has been arrested after she allegedly choked her newborn son to death and hid him under a mattress.
According to a source close to the case, the woman was pregnant by a married man.
The incident happened at the mother’s Beacon Valley home on Saturday afternoon.
A suspicious visitor told her to take the baby to hospital.
The source says police were called to Mitchells Plain Day Hospital where they were informed that the baby boy was dead.
During an interview with the 32-year-old mother, she told police that she already had four children and had hid her pregnancy from her family.
“The boy was the child of a married man. She told police that she hid the pregnancy and was at home when her water broke,” says the source.
“She gave birth to the child in the house and when she was done, people heard noises and came to the house.”
The insider says the mother denied that anything was happening when questioned about the noise and the blood, and covered the child’s mouth and put him in a cupboard.
“Then the people left. She told police that she took the baby out and strangled him. His whole face was blue and you could see an injury under his chin and the cord was still attached.
“An aunty from the church arrived at the house and found the baby and made the mother take the baby to the hospital where she was arrested.”
Police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, confirms the arrest of the mother, and says a murder investigation is underway.
“A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death,” he says.
When the Daily Voice visited the woman’s home in Jukskei Crescent, a woman who identified herself as the suspect’s mother declined to comment.
The woman’s neighbours say they knew nothing of the arrest or murder case, but few admitted to knowing about a dead baby.
Meanwhile Fouzia Rhodes, a member of the street committee, says she got a fright when she heard the mother was arrested.
“Dit is snaaks dat die mense sê hulle wiet niks (It's funny that people are saying they don't know anything). When I asked one of the guys this morning about that house, he sommer (just) said the house where the baby died. So somebody must know something. We are very concerned and we would want to know why she did it,” says Rhodes.