A 13-year-old girl has been arrested for the murder of her 63-year-old grandmother, who was found bludgeoned to death in her home in Jan Roz Crescent in Fairbreeze, Tongaat, north of Durban, on Monday.
At about 09:43, members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) arrived on the scene and found Tongaat police and the provincial ambulance service in attendance.
Idah Ngcobo was found lying in a pool of blood in her living room. She showed no signs of life and paramedics pronounced her dead. She had suffered blunt force trauma to her head and face.
According to RUSA spokesperson Prem Balram, Ngcobo’s 13-year-old granddaughter said she was hanging clothes on the washing line when she heard a noise in the house.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said that the girl told police she saw an unknown man using a hammer to attack her grandmother.
However, on Tuesday, the granddaughter was arrested for the murder.
Mbele confirmed the arrest to News24 on Wednesday and said the teenager would appear in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Ngcobo had suffered a stroke last month and could not walk.
Netwerk24 reported that Ngcobo had lived in the house for more than 10 years. She was reportedly defenceless and partly paralysed. She had four children and eight grandchildren.
Police are investigating the incident, Mbele said.
The 2018/2019 National Crime Statistics report shows that murder cases are at their highest level in four years.
There were 21 022 cases of murder, which represents a 3.4% increase over the number from 2017/2018.
The Tongaat police station recorded 48 cases of murder, an increase of 11 from 2017/2018.
