Tebogo Monama

Tebogo Monama

A Dobsonville, Soweto, family is still wondering what went wrong after their brother stabbed and killed their elderly mother.

Magdeline Chiloane, 66, was stabbed several times yesterday by her 40-year-old son in front of her daughter Thandi Gabela and granddaughter Keabetswe.

A distraught Thandi said: "I woke up and did the laundry. At about 8am my mother and Keabetswe woke up.

"We decided to have breakfast and while we were sitting there my brother burst into the house and started stabbing her.

"He kept saying: 'I said I'll show you', while stabbing her. We tried to stop him but couldn't."

He was eventually restrained by a male cousin.

Gabela said her mother and her unemployed brother had not had serious fights before.

"They had arguments," Gabela said. "He sometimes got drunk and misbehaved but he's never done anything like this.

"He's unemployed and our mother always gave him money.

"What I remember is that he developed a grudge over an incident one Christmas. He was making a noise and my mother called the police. He was arrested and he never got over it.

"He said she didn't love him and that was why she let the police assault him."

Dobsonville police spokesman Captain Yolande Bouwer confirmed the incident and said the man would appear in the Roodepoort magistrate's court soon.

"We condemn domestic violence and encourage people to report it before it escalates to this level," Bouwer said.