Pregnant woman shot dead while GIVING BIRTH as burglars raid her home as baby dies too
A PREGNANT woman has been shot dead while giving birth in her home in South Africa.
Paramedics were unable to save mum-of-three Shaida Nathan, 32, or the baby she was delivering at the time.
According to reports, gunmen burst into the victim’s home in Kraaifontein, South Africa, while Shaida was in labour and opened fire.
Two men accompanying the pregnant woman at the time have been hospitalised after being wounded in the attack.
Reports say that one of the men is believed to have been the intended target.
It is unclear if the shooting was gang-related.
An unnamed relative of the victim said that the area is a notorious hotspot for crime and that the family could not return to their shacks for the following two days due to other shootings.
'MURDER INVESTIGATION'
One 68-year-old resident said: “Shaida was a mother of three children, one child is in foster care, the other two were with her, but I don’t know where they are now."
Police spokesperson, Colonel Andrè Traut, says the circumstances surrounding the murder are being investigated.
The suspects are unknown and have yet to be arrested.
On 13th June, President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the "surge in murders of women and children" in South Africa.
Ramaphosa said: “It is a dark and shameful week for us as a nation. Criminals have descended to even greater depths of cruelty and callousness.
“We note with disgust that at a time when the country is facing the gravest of threats from the pandemic, violent men are taking advantage of the eased restrictions on movement to attack women and children.
“We need to understand what factors are fuelling this terrible trend and, as society as a whole, address them urgently.”
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On 12th June, the body of a young woman was found under a tree in Dobsonville in Soweto.
Her murder followed the death of eight-month-pregnant Tshegofatso Pule, who was reportedly stabbed and found hanged from a tree in a field days before.
Several days later, Naledi Phangindawo, 25, was hacked to death by a man with an axe and a knife, according to reports.
Last week, an unnamed 26-year-woman was allegedly stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend in her home.
