A 20-year-old Newcastle woman has been arrested after she confessed to strangling her three-year old son in a bid to keep her new boyfriend, police said on Wednesday.
Police spokesperson Captain Shooz Magudulela said the woman confessed to the murder of her son after being persuaded to do so by a friend.
The woman told police that she had strangled her three-year old son, wrapped his body in a black plastic bag and then dumped it in a rubbish skip on September 20. The skip was removed by refuse workers the next day.
The woman, who was pregnant with her boyfriend’s child, told police that she had hoped that the disappearance of her son would ensure she could keep her boyfriend’s child and improve her relationship with the man.
However, friends and people in her neighbourhood kept on asking her where her son was.
Initially she told them that her son had been sent to relatives, but by Christmas they had become suspicious and demanded that she tell them.
Magudulela said that the woman had finally confessed to a close friend, who then persuaded her to go to the police.
The woman is expected to appear in court in Newcastle on Thursday. – Sapa