Staff Reporter
The 20-month-old child who was snatched from Petrus Steyn by her mother’s former lover following a fight on Sunday night has been found dead.
The suspect, Chepete Mngomezulu, allegedly committed suicide.
A source close to the investigation said the victim, Blessing Bokamoso Mpembe, was found with injuries to the head and her clothes had blood stains, an indication she may have suffered a violent death.
The child’s body and that of the suspect were found by the police at Vrede Farm in Petrus Steyn, eastern Free State, on Thursday.
“Police were conducting a search at Vrede Farm where Mngomezulu worked when they made the gruesome discovery,” said the source.
The body of the suspect was the first to be found in an abandoned house on the farm.
He was found hanging from the roof of the house.
The body of the child, according to the source, was found in the trees in an open field not far from where the body of the suspect was found.
Earlier this week, The Free Stater reported that the mother of the child, Khorny Mpembe, had told the police that the ex-boyfriend arrived at her residential place just before midnight on Sunday and demanded that she opens the door for him.
She said she went outside to talk to Mngomezulu but while they were talking he allegedly started assaulting her.
The woman then ran away to seek help from neighbours and, in the midst of the fracas, Mngomezulu allegedly snatched the baby and disappeared.
The police immediately launched a search.
Free State Police, Roads and Transport MEC Sam Mashinini and Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Baile Motswenyane visited the bereaved family on Friday.
Meanwhile, Ntsokolo Tlhobelo, 18, has made his first appearance at the Bultfontein Magistrates Court for the alleged murder of his 15-year-old girlfriend Tshepo Diphoko.
The body of Diphoko was found on Tuesday inside a vandalised building in Phomolong township.
Her body was bruised and was bleeding from the nose.
Preliminary investigations indicate Tlhobelo was the last person to be seen with the deceased.
They were seen together a day before her body was discovered.
The case was postponed to September 8 for bail application.