Pretoria - A family from Ramotse, Hammanskraal, is still reeling in shock after their two-year-old son died in his sleep two weeks ago under mysterious circumstances.
Yesterday, Evelyn Tsoku recalled the day when her nephew, Thabang Tsoku was found dead by his mother.
Tsoku said they could not understand how he died. “He had flu during the week but he was okay when, on June 16, he went to sleep without any problems.”
So it was shocking when, on the morning of June 17, her sister called her with the shocking news.
“We have two shacks in the yard and I was sleeping in the other one. I was surprised when she called me at around 6am. I went outside and found my sister holding Thabang in her arms.
“She was unable to speak and was crying loudly. I took the child from her.” Tsoku said when she saw the little boy, it seemed like he was eaten and/or bitten by something, but they could not figure out what it could have been.
“His eye was like pushed back inside and you could see that his mouth was eaten away.”
She said initially the family suspected it could have been rats that attacked the 2-year-old. “There was no blood where he was sleeping, including the blanket and clothes he was wearing ... we just do not know what happened to him.”
The traumatic experience has left the whole family, traumatised.
“If only you could have seen Thabang, it was shocking. One could tell that it was the work of people, or something unnatural.
“His mother was sick not so long ago; she could not even get out of bed. She had a swollen eye. Something is definitely not right in our family; it seems someone is against us, but whoever did that to Thabang, may God be with them,” said Evelyn.
And, said the aunt, Thabang had cerebral palsy and could not move or scream for help.
The family said they had not yet received post-mortem results from forensics, so they were still in the dark as to what had happened to their baby.
Pretoria News