Angry dad hanged his three young children and stepdaughter using their school belts to get back at wife for asking for a divorce
A South African father is accused of killing his three young children, as well as his teen stepdaughter after he was served with divorce papers by his estranged wife. Subusiso Mpungose, 44, was arrested on Wednesday, September 4, after his son Kuhlekonke, 4, daughter Khwezi, 6, son Sphesihile, 10, were found hanging at their home in Wyebank, and his stepdaughter Ayakha Jikane, 16, was found hanging in the nearby woods, according to the Daily Mail. Their bodies were found shortly after 2.30 p.m on Tuesday, September 3.
Mpungose had allegedly waited until his estranged wife Xolisile, 42, went to work and then picked up Kuhlekonke, Khwezi, and Sphesihile from a nearby creche and school before driving them to their marital home, where he would kill them one by one. When they arrived, he sent 10-year-old son Sphesihile out to buy snacks for all of them, at which point he used school belts to hang the other two children from burglar prevention bars on the windows. As soon as the 10-year-old came back from his shopping trip, Mpungose took him to a separate room and hung him as well.
After killing his three children with Xolisile, he is said to have tricked Ayakha, Xolisile's daughter from a previous marriage, to come out of school, took her to some woods nearby, and hung her as well. MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza from KZN Social Development told News24 that Mpungose had to separate the teenage girl from her siblings 'to ensure that she did not rescue them' and added that 'she was killed alone in the bush'. The gruesome murders came to light after Xolisile became concerned over the unusual activity on her taxi app that showed trips being taken by Mpungose between their home and their children's school.
She alerted the Wyebank police, who accompanied her to the home and found that the locks had been changed. When they broke down the door, they found the three children hanging. But the nightmare wasn't over yet. Xolisile became worried about Ayakha and said she feared that her husband had gone after her as well. Authorities quickly went to her school, Pinetown Girls High, where her friends told them that they had seen the teen getting into a taxi with her father and driving away. A search team combing the area soon found her hanging from a tree in her school uniform.
Struggling to hold back her tears, Xolisile described the horror scene to media. "In one child's room, he hung them on a burglar bar on the window, with the belt from their nightgown. In my room as well, he hung the other one," she said.
Mpungose, who had gone on the run after committing the murders, was found by authorities the next day and arrested. He reportedly tried to kill himself before he was apprehended. He appeared in Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Friday, September 6, and cried when the charges of four counts of murder were read out in the court. He kept his head down during most of the appearance and told the court he would be abandoning his application for bail. He is scheduled to make his next appearance in court on October 9.