A Masiphumelele resident is expected to appear in court today on suspicion of having murdered his wife and then set alight their shack, which was gutted along with 14 others.
The couple's three children, aged six, 10 and 13, were in the shack when their father allegedly started beating their mother, but they escaped.
On Tuesday, they were receiving trauma counselling. They were placed in the care of relatives.
Their 49-year-old father is expected to appear in the Simon's Town Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, facing charges of murder and arson.
Police would not divulge his wife's name, as police were still tracking down some family members to inform them of the death.
Ocean View police station spokesperson Nkosikho Mzuku said the incident happened in the informal settlement early on Tuesday. "The parents were inside the shack with the children.
"An argument broke out between the husband and (his 38-year-old) wife and he apparently started hitting her. That's when the children ran out to neighbours," he said.
Mzuku said it was not yet clear what the couple had been arguing about. He said the husband was suspected of beating, strangling and choking his wife, who died inside their shack.
Neighbours heard shouting and screaming, but before they had managed to intervene, the man had allegedly set the shack alight with his wife's body still inside.
Mzuku said the blaze spread rapidly and 14 other shacks were also gutted.
Although scores of residents were left homeless, no one was injured.
Mzuku said the man was arrested near his shack. - Cape Times
The couple's three children, aged six, 10 and 13, were in the shack when their father allegedly started beating their mother, but they escaped.
On Tuesday, they were receiving trauma counselling. They were placed in the care of relatives.
Their 49-year-old father is expected to appear in the Simon's Town Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, facing charges of murder and arson.
Police would not divulge his wife's name, as police were still tracking down some family members to inform them of the death.
Ocean View police station spokesperson Nkosikho Mzuku said the incident happened in the informal settlement early on Tuesday. "The parents were inside the shack with the children.
"An argument broke out between the husband and (his 38-year-old) wife and he apparently started hitting her. That's when the children ran out to neighbours," he said.
Mzuku said it was not yet clear what the couple had been arguing about. He said the husband was suspected of beating, strangling and choking his wife, who died inside their shack.
Neighbours heard shouting and screaming, but before they had managed to intervene, the man had allegedly set the shack alight with his wife's body still inside.
Mzuku said the blaze spread rapidly and 14 other shacks were also gutted.
Although scores of residents were left homeless, no one was injured.
Mzuku said the man was arrested near his shack. - Cape Times
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