Three children left unattended burn to death
In light of recent incidents, where three children who were left unattended burned to death, the Mpumalanga SAPS has sent out a strict warning, telling parents to not leave their children unsupervised.
• A three-year-old girl perished in a house fire on Monday evening at Siyathuthuka township in Belfast.
Reports indicate that the victim and her siblings, aged seven and nine, were left alone by their mother in the shack where they stay.
When the mother returned, she found the shack engulfed in flames and immediately called for help. The other two children managed to escape the fire unharmed, unfortunately, the three-year-old perished in the blaze.
A case of culpable homicide has been opened against the woman, with an additional charge of child neglect.
• A similar incident occurred on Friday, 16 April, in Masoyi, where two young girls, aged seven and eight, also burned to death in a house fire after being left unattended.
According to information from the police, the two children, who were cousins, were asleep in the house in Jerusalem, Masoyi, whilst their parents were away.
Their uncle was visiting neighbours at the time and when he returned he realised that the bedroom where the girls were sleeping was on fire. He reportedly called other neighbours to help him extinguish the fire, however, the flames were too intense and the girls perished in the fire.
An inquest case is currently being probed and a charge of child neglect will be added.
• In another incident, a 23-year-old woman was recently arrested in Bushbuckridge for child neglect after she reportedly left her three children, aged four, five and a nine-month-old baby, unattended between the evening of Friday, 9 April, and the morning of Saturday, 10 April.
Her family then thought that she was missing and the matter was brought to the attention of the police.
A search party for her was conducted and she was later found at a certain tavern on Friday, 16 April, after information surfaced from members of the public.
A case was opened and the mother was arrested. She appeared before court where her case was remanded until Thursday, 22 April, for bail application.
Police management in the province urge parents, as well as guardians, to play their role in order to prevent such incidents from occurring.
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