By Tsitsi Matope
MASERU — Police arrested the Motimposo man who attempted to drown his two children aged three and one in Maqalika Dam on Monday night.
The man aged 27, was arrested in Motimposo after his plot to drown the children was foiled by curious neighbours.
Police spokesperson Inspector Thato Ramarikhoane said the suspect had confirmed he had intended to drown his minor children since he is unemployed and faiking to fend for them.
“He said he wanted to put them out of their misery because he was unemployed and struggling to look after them alone,” Ramarikhoane said.
“We have since charged him under the Penal Code Act and he is expected to appear in court today (Friday),” Ramarikhoane said.
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old mother of the children had to rush to the police headquarters and social development offices after she heard of the drowning attempt through the media.
According to the police, the mother nearly missed her children who were already being accompanied to Touching Tiny Lives orphanage in Mokhotlong.
’Maletsie Khoete, a senior social welfare officer who was accompanying the children, on Friday said she was already at Kolonyama on her way to Mokhotlong when she received a call to return to Maseru.
“We have since handed over the children to their mother. This, however, does not mean we are not going to follow up on them to check if they are safe and well taken care of. Her explanation for leaving her family was that her husband was violent,” Khoete said.
Ramarikhoane, on the other hand, said the mother had given the police a different explanation, claiming she had left her husband with the children to look for a job sometime in April.
She claimed to have managed to secure a job as a domestic worker in Koalabata and was not aware her children were in such danger,” he said.