Girl‚ 2‚ sat with her dead family for days

A toddler – the lone survivor of a family massacre in Mariannhill – sat surrounded by the bodies of her mother‚ grandmother and 3-month-old brother for days before she was found.

The wailing 2-year-old was plucked from the crime scene by a family friend who had gone to the home when the girl’s mother failed to arrive at church.

The man who had taken a knife to his mother‚ girlfriend and son had hung himself inside the bloodied home.

Police spokesperson captain Nqobile Gwala said detectives had rushed to the scene in Thornwood when the churchgoer raised the alarm on Sunday morning.

“Three bodies were found inside the house‚ all with stab wounds. The body of a man believed to be in his twenties was found hanging inside the house‚” she said.

“All the bodies were decomposed and a knife believed to have been used in the commission of crime was also recovered at the scene.”

She added that the toddler was found alive inside the house and was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital for medical attention.

“The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated. The girl was unharmed in the incident‚” Gwala said.