Two siblings in Protea Glen are shocked after their brother hacked their mother (76) to death with a sledgehammer. They said the right side of her face had a hole and her cheekbone had been crushed.  Her teeth fell out and her fingers were hanging by the flesh. 

Speaking to Zimoja a visibly shaken Sandile Syananzu (31) who was in the house when his brother attacked his mom said he is petrified. He said that his brother (39) had been out on a drinking spree with his friends when he came back home and wreaked havoc. He explained that his brother often threatened to kill his mother claiming that she had favourites in the family. 

"I was in the house inside my bedroom when he started knocking on my window demanding that I come outside but I refused. He then entered through the kitchen door and went straight to my mother's bedroom and opened the door," said a clearly shaken Sandile. He said he panicked and wanted to see what his brother wanted from his mother.

"my mom had already been sleeping and I knew he was going to start a fight with her. To my surprise as I eneterd my mother's bedroom, I saw him swinging a sledge hammer without saying a word and hacking my mom in her sleep. I immediately turned back and ran away."

He said he ran to the police station, which is not too far from his house, but the police told him to come back with a neighbour as he sometimes suffered from episodes of mental illness.

A neighbour Tshidi Mokodi who went with Sandile, told Zimoja that she was having a difficult time processing the death of her friend.

"it was around 5am when my grandchildren were bathing and preparing for school when I heard somebody yelling my name. I was shocked and reluctant to open, but my daughter who was already up at the time checked and told me it was Sandile. I asked him what the matter was and he said his brother had killed their mom. 

Mokodi said she thought Sandile was having one of his mental breakdowns so she asked her daughter to accompany her to her neighbour's house. 

"When we got to the house Sandile pointed at us straight to his mother's bedroom. My daughter went in and came back shaking, saying she had never seen something like that in her life. We went back to the police station with Sandile because he told us they didn't believe him,"she said. 

She added that they took statements but refused to accompany them because night shift was ending and a new team would help. 

" My daughter and I had to rush back home because we left the kids unattended. We left Sandile at the station so he could wait for the new shift to start. Eventually he came back with the police and they found him sleeping in his outside room."

When the cousin of the accused asked him why he killed his own mother he did not show any remorse and said, "Of course I killed her and I did it on purpose."

The sledge hammer he used to commit the murder has not been found. Meanwhile the community is baying for his blood. 

"We don't ever want to see him here. He is brutal and we all knew that he always bothered his mom but we never thought he had it in him to kill her. We have women and children who won't feel safe should he come out. If he does, we will take matters into our owb hands because even his own family is scared of him," said another neighbour, Mpumelelo Ndlandla.