Pregnant woman tried to commit suicide after killing baby

Alex police spokesperson Warrant Officer Moses Maphakela said police had been called to a shack in Setswetla last Thursday and found a pregnant woman screaming in pain, with a dead two-year-old baby at her side, Alex News reported.

“We ascertained that the woman had poisoned her baby and later herself in an apparent suicide attempt,” said Maphakela.

The woman was rushed to hospital under police guard, where doctors battled to save her unborn child, but the foetus was removed and declared dead, added Maphakela.

Maphakela said police could not establish the reason behind the woman poisoning her child and the attempt to take her own life, but suspected she had been unable to support her child financially.

“We call upon members of the community who might be experiencing difficult times not to take their own lives or that of their children, but to approach Alex police, who will gladly assist them,” added Maphakela.

Maphakela said the death of the two-year-old baby would be investigated, and depending on the outcome, the woman may be charged with murder or culpable homicide.

In a separate incident, a man who allegedly fatally stabbed his wife in Bryanston, Johannesburg, attempted to commit suicide in August last year.

Yengesen Pillay had been in hospital under police guard, said prosecutor Yusuf Baba.

ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said the woman, believed to be in her late 30s, had sustained about 50 stab wounds.

It was unclear when or how Pillay had tried to commit suicide.

– Caxton News Service