Police are investigating a case of concealment of birth after two babies were found buried in a shallow grave at a house in Hammanskraal.
Community members notified the authorities that a woman had given birth at home and had not registered her baby with the Department of Home Affairs.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said preliminary investigations revealed that a 32-year-old woman had given birth to triplets at her home on March 8, 2024.
“It is reported that one of the babies was stillborn while the other died after two days.
“Upon giving birth, the woman, allegedly with assistance from her 51-year-old mother, buried the stillborn baby in a shallow grave in their yard,” she said.
“Two days later the second baby died and was also buried in a shallow grave.”
The police's Crime Scene Investigation team responded to the scene on Friday and exhumed the remains of the two babies (a boy and a girl), which were taken to a government mortuary.
Muridili said the woman’s mother has been taken into custody to face possible charges of defeating the ends of justice.
“The woman will also face charges of concealment of birth as well as defeating the ends of justice,” she added.
A resident from Hammanskraal, Thabo Ngwenya, said they heard about the birth of the babies and they later went to the woman’s home in an attempt to check up on her.
He said after a few days they heard that two babies died and were buried outside the woman’s house.
“As community members we found that the woman and her mother had buried the babies in a grave and we quickly notified the police in Temba,” he said.
Muridili added post-mortem examinations will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
Pretoria News