Orange Farm child murder suspect Pontsho Mohlanka abandons bail application

• Pontsho Mohlanka, 29, abandoned her bail application in the Vereeniging Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
• She is accused of murdering a six-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl in Orange Farm in September.
• Residents had reportedly vowed to take the law into their own hands if she was released on bail.

Murder suspect Pontsho Mohlanka, 29, abandoned her bail application in the Vereeniging Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

This, according to Newzroom Afrika and eNCA, reporting from the court on Tuesday.

Mohlanka was being charged with the murder of a six-year-old boy, Simphiwe Mgcina, and an eight-year-old girl, Mpho Makondo, whose bodies were discovered metres apart in the early hours of 19 September, a few hours after the children had been reported missing at the Orange Farm police station.

The investigation led police to Soweto, where Mohlanka was found and arrested, said police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters.

According to Peters, Mohlanka was arrested in April for the murder of another child, seven-year-old Mzwandile Zitho, who was her neighbour, after the child's body was found in her house.

The boy had been reported missing earlier in the day on 15 April, and the search eventually led to Mohlanka's house where the child's body was found in a fridge in her tavern in July.

Peters said that case was temporarily withdrawn pending the outcome of a toxicology report. Mohlanka was released from custody on 16 September, three days before the murder of the two children.

According to eNCA, Orange Farm residents vowed to take the law into their own hands if Mohlanka was released on bail.

 - Compiled by Riaan Grobler

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