TSHIVHILIDULU - A 27-year-old pregnant woman, Mrs Maria Munyai, was chopped to death by unknown suspects at Tshivhilidulu on Sunday night.

According Captain Mashudu Malelo, Miss Munyai was asleep with a seven-year-old boy in her two-roomed house when unknown suspects attacked them. Her other two children were asleep in another room in the house.

The suspects had smashed the windowpane before gaining entry to the room where the innocent woman and boy were.

A neighbour heard a child screaming and when she rushed to the scene, she found the body of her neighbour in a pool of blood with an open wound to the back and left side of the head. Miss Munyai was taken to the Siloam Hospital where she was certified dead. The seven-year-old boy was found unconscious, but with no visible wounds.

According to the family spokesperson, Mrs Maria Sivhugwana, the family has no money to bury Miss Munyai. The deceased was unemployed and dependent on a child support grant. “There is no security at Munyai’s home and we fear that the suspect may return and harm the remaining children,” she said. “We have opened an account in the name of Moraine Munyai at ABSA bank Thohoyandou, account number 9148267236, if people want to contribute towards the funeral and to assist her child.”

The police found a big stone in the room and an axe that was found near an irrigation furrow.

The Siloam police are appealing to anyone with information to assist them in bringing the murderers to book.

* Meanwhile, Thohoyandou police have opened an inquest docket after the death of a thirteen-year-old boy who was found hanging at his cousin’s home at Mukula village on Saturday.

His nephew met him holding a rope in his hands, and when he was asked some questions as to why he was holding a rope, he said he intended to fix it. He was later found hanging from a mango tree.