Police have opened an inquest docket, pending the investigation after five-year-old Lucas, the Mlambo family’s firstborn son, was found hanging from the ceiling, leaving his parents in a state of shock and despair.
On Tuesday, Judas Mlambo, father of the deceased boy, told Sunday World that he and his wife left the children playing outside their Tembisa home in Zone 3, Ekurhuleni, to stock up for their mini spaza shops.
Mlambo claimed that upon their return, they witnessed the life-altering event.
Parents left him playing outside for 10 minutes
“We left Lucas playing with his 3-year-old sibling outside. Not knowing that in less than 10 minutes of us gone, we would come back to this,” he said, sobbing.
Mlambo explained that while he was still outside with their stock, his wife went inside the house.
“After that, I heard a loud scream from my wife. She was taking him off the cloth he was hanging by. I left everything and ran inside the house.
“He was still warm, so we had hopes that he would be saved,” he added.
He said they realised that he was dead, a few minutes after his mother put him down.
According to Mlambo, the family has mixed feelings and has many questions regarding what happened.
Still seeking answers
“Our biggest question is how he ended up hanging from the ceiling, he was a child, he was only five. We have a lot of questions. And we don’t know whether someone strangled him and then put him up, so it looks like he hanged himself. We are confused,” stated Mlambo.
Our boy, Mlambo said, was still young. But we had hopes that he would become a great man in the future.
“At the moment we don’t have an idea of what’s going to happen. We still have to hold meetings with our other family members and plan his burial. Because we don’t have a funeral policy.”
Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed the incident. He said the police have opened an inquest docket.
