‘You will die because your father loves money’, gunman told two small children
A distraught mother has spoken about her two young children’s last moments.
Mom finds slain daughter clutching teddybear, younger child who hid under bed
The words of siblings Tinyiko and Mpfumo Mashaba’s killer, who is known to their mother Itumeleng, keep ringing in her head.
She was standing a short distance away from their shack in Changing Spot informal settlement in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, when her daughters aged four and seven were killed. She believes they were shot before their shack was set alight.
Mashaba, 33, said she and her partner Louis had gone out for a short time, leaving their children in the shack. She said as they were returning home, they heard someone open one of their gates.
“He [attacker] kicked the gate and I heard him kicking the door. Then I heard him asking the kids where ‘are your parents’ and asking where is Louis [their father]. The older one responded that ‘my mom is not around’. She said I would be coming back soon. I was listening at the back of the shack]
“He told them ‘you are going to die because your father loves money‘. I then heard gunshots,” said Mashaba.
“I think he heard the gate open and saw us. He came towards the gate where I was standing. I ran and he chased after me.
“He managed to catch me but I slipped away and he said it would not end well. I was about four streets away from my home when I saw smoke and I knew my kids were gone.
“My boyfriend also managed to escape. I think he was shocked because he had heard his friend was shot earlier by the same guy [who killed our children],” Mashaba said.
She said she started receiving messages from her neighbours telling her about the fire and she knew she had lost her children.
Mashaba said she spent 14 minutes watching her shack burning. .
“I found my older child hugging her teddybear with a bullet in her stomach and the younger one beneath the bed as if she wanted to hide under it.”