SA mom a suspect in killing of 3 children in New Zealand
Image: 123RF/Przemyslaw Koch
Twin girls aged three and their seven-year-old sibling have been found dead in a New Zealand town.
Their mother - a SA doctor - has been admitted to hospital, where she is in a stable condition, reports New Zealand media, quoting Det Insp Scott Anderson.
A homicide case is under investigation with police saying at a media conference they were speaking with people from the property and no-one else was wanted in connection with the incident.
The family had arrived in the country in late August and had only recently left a Covid-19 quarantine facility.
Their father, also a doctor, had arrived home to find his daughters dead, and had alerted neighbours. Stuff.co.nz reported he was heard screaming and crying, saying “Is this really happening?”
Emergency services were alerted shortly after 10pm on Thursday night, reports TVNZ, quoting police as saying the family had only arrived in the town a week ago to work as medics.
The property involved is believed to be used as housing for staff at the hospital.
The NZ Herald newspaper quoted South Africans in Timaru group and Multicultural Aoraki SA representative Martin Reynecke as saying the SA community was in shock.
“Our hearts are breaking for their family back in South Africa and around the world who will wake up to this terrible news,” Reynecke said.
Tributes, along with flowers and a soft toy, have been left at the entrance to the property.
This is a developing story
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