SA couple who stabbed each other 'left SA over crime'

21 December 2014 - 14:15 By Jan Bornman, Monica Laganparsad and Pericles Anetos
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Angelique and Cornelius Billings
Angelique and Cornelius Billings

A custody battle over their two young children may have been behind the stabbing deaths of a South African couple, Angelique and Cornelius Billings, living in Ireland.

Police in Ireland were unable to say yesterday whether the deaths were a murder-suicide, a double suicide, or a double murder, but no third party was involved. Chief superintendent of police in County Clare, John Kerin, said only one knife had been used.

The children, Pamela, 5, and Corne, 3, are being cared for by a neighbour in the village of Kildysart.

A member of Angelique's family is due to fly to Ireland on Christmas Day to bring them back to South Africa, where they will be taken care of by grandparents Mossie and Tommie van Niekerk of Delmas.

Mossie, who is Angelique's mother, said: "They will be placed in my care because my husband and I are the only surviving grandparents."

She said her daughter, 27, and Cornelius, 44, had moved to Ireland "for a better life" and to escape the high crime rate.

''They left on March 3 to go to Ireland for better circumstances and because there's no crime. And look at what happened now," she said.

Angelique had become homesick and Cornelius, a civil engineer, had been out of work. His health was poor and money was tight.

Mossie said she had spoken to her daughter a day before the killings and she had hoped to be back by Christmas.

Although described by friends and family as "loving", the couple were involved in a court battle over custody of the children.

The couple had been due to appear in family court in Ennis, Ireland, on Friday.

''She wanted a court to grant her custody of the children so they could come back to South Africa," she said.

''All the pressure and anxiety of losing his job probably played a part [in their deaths]. It probably led to an argument."

Mossie said Angelique and Cornelius "weren't violent people at all".

On the night of the killings, Angelique stumbled out of the house, carrying one of her children. Bleeding from a chest wound, she collapsed in front of firemen who were putting out a fire nearby.

The crying child ran back inside the home, followed by firemen.

Inside, they discovered Cornelius, who was bleeding from the throat. He died soon afterwards. Police believe both children were witnesses to the deaths. Kerin said the children would "absolutely not" be questioned.

The couple would probably be cremated in Ireland.

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