Police are investigating whether a 62-year-old man hacked his 57-year-old wife to death and then set himself on fire in their five-roomed home in Limpopo early on Wednesday.

Officers in Driekop, outside Burgersfort, responded to a house engulfed by fire and discovered the body of Magdeline Mahlokwane and the charred remains of her husband Phillip Mafalo inside the gutted property.

Residents from Ga-Mahlokwana raised the alarm after hearing the hysterical screams of children in the burning house.

“During further investigations, the police found the bloodstained murder weapon next to the woman’s body. A bottle containing the remnants of a flammable substance was also discovered in the vicinity,” said police spokesperson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo.

“The police are investigating the possibility that the 62-year-old man allegedly chopped his 57-year-old wife to death, torched their motor vehicle and thereafter allegedly doused himself with a flammable substance in the house and set himself alight.”

He said it was not yet known what led to the grisly incident but domestic violence could not be ruled out.

Cases of murder, arson and malicious damage to property have been opened.

Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba strongly condemned the incident.