Cape Town - Kraaifontein police are investigating the death of a three-year-old boy who was allegedly killed by a man who thought he was a tokoloshe.
According to neighbours, the 50-year-old man had been looking after the boy, who was the son of his ex-wife.
The boy’s body was found outside a shack in Wallacedene by a neighbour, who heard the man screaming in his home on Sunday after 12am.
The 35-year-old neighbour, who did not want to be named, said residents had never seen the man react this way.
“We heard him scream and when we came outside we just heard him shout ‘hamba, hamba Satan!’
“Apparently, he had been doing a cleansing ritual inside his shack over a tokoloshe that only he could see. We were all shocked when we saw the child’s body lying outside the shack.”
According to the neighbour, the man was the boy’s mother’s ex.
“She had left the child with him to look after as she had gone to the Eastern Cape for a funeral,” she explains.
“But it is not his son, and he lived alone in the shack, which he was renting.”
She says the horrified neighbours asked the man what had happened.
“He said the tokoloshe attacked him, he had seen it coming through his roof. He was very confused, he wasn’t himself. He said he had to defend himself against the tokoloshe and he grabbed an axe and hit it.
“He apparently hit the child in the neck with the axe and threw the body outside,” the woman adds.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg confirms that the alleged killer has been arrested.
“Kraaifontein police are investigating a murder case after a three-year-old boy was murdered in Bhunga Street, Wallacedene, Kraaifontein on Sunday at about 1am.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.
“The victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel.
“A 50-year-old male was arrested in connection with the murder and will appear in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court once he has been charged.”