Police probing suicide of Mpumalanga man who murdered his three children

A man from Breyton near Ermelo has ended his own life after slitting the throats of his three children‚ Mpumalanga police said on Tuesday.

The incident happened on Monday.

Brigadier Leonard Hlathi told TimesLIVE that the man had informed the children's mother of his intention to end his own life.

"A preliminary investigation suggested that the children were murdered in a senseless manner in which their throats were slit. Police were called to the scene after the mother of the children‚ who was at work‚ found the shocking scene on her return‚" said Hlathi.

"The sequence of events suggested that the father collected the children from school and allegedly murdered them. He then texted a message to the mother informing her that he had murdered the children and was going to end his life."

The children were aged 11‚ six and three.

"Subsequent to the message‚ news broke of a man who had thrown himself under a moving train and was badly injured. It later came forth that it was the father of the slain children‚" said Hlathi.

The man was rushed to hospital where he later died.