A woman who was found dead with her three children in Witbank on Monday morning had sent her husband a threatening SMS saying that he "would be sorry" just hours before she and her children died.
Exactly what killed the family was yet to be determined by autopsy, but her husband's family say she committed suicide after murdering her three small children.
Nurse Pearl Mhlanga, 31, and her three children Quanisha, 10, Quirino, 5, and 7-month-old Qwain were found dead in their home in Skiatos Complex in Reyno Ridge, Mpumalanga, early on Monday morning.
When TimesLIVE contacted the father, Mandla Mhlanga, he was so distraught that he handed the phone to his brother, Vusi, who said that his sister-in-law committed suicide and killed the children.
"She did it. She committed suicide and she killed the babies, too," Mhlanga said.
He said that his brother and Pearl had not been arguing, but that she had tried to call him several times on Sunday.
"Then she sent my brother an SMS saying that he would be sorry for not answering her calls.
"She phoned several times but he did not answer. They were separated and in the process of a divorce," Mhlanga said.
Vusi said that the family knew the cause of death, but that they did not want speak about it.
Witbank SAPS spokesman Sergeant David Ratau said that the autopsies were performed on the deceased on Tuesday and that they were waiting for the blood samples to be tested for poison because the bodies had shown no visible cause of death.
Ratau said that the results should be released today.
The funerals will be held at Memorial Park in Pretoria on Saturday. - TimesLIVE
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