Johannesburg – The mother of two toddlers found dead in the veld near Zonkizizwe, Katlehong, on the East Rand, was discharged from hospital on Thursday, police said.

“She will be charged with double murder when she appears at the Heidelberg Magistrate’s Court [on Friday],” police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini said.

Earlier, he said the woman was under police guard at the Natalspruit Hospital after investigations linked her to the children’s deaths. Residents found the children dead on Wednesday.

The woman initially told police her husband left her and the children in the veld on Tuesday, while on their way from Witbank to Johannesburg.

She claimed they slept in a small, abandoned house overnight and that her husband left them with cooldrink, which they drank on Tuesday night.

She said she found the children dead when she woke on Wednesday morning.

“It has been established that an initial statement submitted by her to the police was false,” Dlamini said.

“Police interviewed several witnesses who confirmed that she had not been in Witbank and her family is in Zonkizizwe,” he said.

“The father of the two little children was traced and submitted a statement to the police. It is suspected that the girls died of poisoning.”

The woman was taken to hospital on Wednesday in a critical, but stable condition.

The motive for the killing was thought to relate to domestic issues between the father and the mother.

Post mortems were conducted on Thursday, but the results were not yet available, Dlamini said.

– SAPA