The uncle of a man, who allegedly killed his girlfriend (22) and their toddler (3) before taking his own life said he wished his nephew opened up to him instead of taking such drastic steps. The incident occurred in Umgababa, KwaZulu-Natal in the early hours of this morning. This is the second incident reported this week of men stabbing their partners and then hanging themselves.

HE APOLOGISED TO HIS FAMILY

The uncle of the 24-year-old deceased, who identified himself as Cele, said he got a call from his wife around 6am to rush to the suspect’s home because it seemed he intended to commit suicide. "After the call, I went through my phone and came across messages from Mlondi my nephew. He expressed gratitude for all the good times we shared and said he had decided to end his life because he had killed his child and then apologised."

The uncle said he rushed to his nephew’s place and asked some people he bumped into to accompany him. " When we got there, there was a broken window, when I peeped through the dining room window I could see a dead body on the floor. As I scanned through the room I saw Mlondi hanging. Fortunately enough he did mention in his message where he would leave the key."

FAMILY DIDN’T KNOW HE HAD RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS

Cele said he didn’t know the deceased couple had problems because that’s not how they portrayed themselves. " They seemed fine, at some point he even mentioned that he wanted to pay lobola because they had been dating for about eight years. I have no idea what could’ve gone wrong but I wish my nephew opened up to me." He said he had a lengthy conversation with him last Saturday and even then he didn’t pick up that there could be a problem. "He came to visit me and we spoke about life in general giving each other advice and then he left, I didn’t suspect that he had dark thoughts." KwaZulu-Natal police confirmed that they are investigating a triple murder case after a 22-year-old woman and her three-year-old daughter were stabbed to death in the early hours of Friday morning. "It is believed a 24-year-old man, who is also the father of the child, locked the pair inside the house before killing them. The suspect also took his own life shortly after the incident. The bodies were recovered on Friday morning, with the incident suspected to have happened late on Thursday night or in the early hours of Friday," said police spokesperson Robert Netshiunda.