Pretoria – An occupational therapist and mother of two died on Wednesday after her throat was cut by attackers, who also stabbed her several times.
They first attacked her daughter, Alicia O’Dell, 17, with a crowbar in a bedroom, presumably during an attempt to rob the house in Noordheuwel, Krugersdorp.
They then killed her mother, Marinda O’Dell, 48.
Police found one of the alleged murderers where he was hiding in the roof of the house, confirmed police spokesperson, Inspector Odette van Staden.
Another man was arrested a few hours after the murder in the nearby Munsieville.
Overpowered
Alicia had arrived home shortly after 14:00. She first spoke to people who were at the house for after-hours occupational therapy sessions with her mother, before she went into the house.
Shortly afterwards, she was overpowered in her bedroom, assaulted and choked, said police. She lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor.
Her mother arrived at the house shortly afterwards. She had just dropped off children from Lantern School, a school for children with special educational needs where she worked, at home.
O’Dell invited the clients into her office before she went looking for her daughter. She presumably became suspicious when Alicia didn’t respond to her calls. She was apparently calling a friend to hear whether she knew where Alicia was when she was overpowered and murdered.
Her body was found in the main bedroom.
The police were notified quickly and on the scene within minutes.
It was still unclear on Thursday how the clients, a woman and her child, had survived the attack.
Family traumatised
Marinda’s husband, Henry O’Dell, was in Durban at the time of the murder and flew back home on Wednesday night.
Her elderly mother, Marietjie Pieterse, was due to talk to Beeld on Thursday afternoon about her only daughter, but the owner of a guesthouse where the family was staying, later cancelled the interview as the family was still too traumatised.
The men who were arrested, were 27 and 28 years old.
Both will appear in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of murder and attempted murder.
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DAN
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