Two small children were present when their parents died in domestic row in Roodepan in Kimberley on Tuesday.

Mystery still surrounds the circumstances that led to the deaths of Nazeem McDonalds, who was stabbed in the neck, and his wife, Zahir, who was shot.

Police spokesperson Captain Tsepho Mofokeng said police were summoned to the scene at the family's home in Woodpecker Street by a family friend.

"On arrival, the police found the body of a 42-year-old man with what appeared to be a stab wound to his neck, lying on top of a 24-year-old woman, who had been shot in the chest," he said.

Both victims had died on the scene and the bodies were taken to the mortuary for autopsies.

"The cause of the incident is unknown and the police have opened murder and suicide dockets," Mofokeng said.

He said a firearm recovered at the scene had been sent for ballistic tests.

Details of what transpired were still hazy.

"Tests will be conducted on the hands of both the husband and wife to determine who fired the gun," Mofokeng said.

According to Godfrey Koopman, Zahir's brother, his sister had been married to Nazeem for the past four-and-a-half years.

"I was sleeping in the shanty next to the house when I was woken by gun shots. When I entered the house I found them lying in my mother's room on top of each other," said Koopman.

He said his mother, his sister's two small children and a niece were in the house at the time of the incident.

"Their daughter is about four and the son one-and-half years old."

Koopman said the McDonalds' daughter was taken from the scene by a social worker shortly after the incident while his mother was taken for trauma treatment.

He said his brother-in-law, who was unemployed, was very possessive and did not like the fact that Zahir worked.

A neighbour, Johanna Coetzee, claimed the tragic outcome could have been prevented if the police had responded earlier.

The police have appealed to the community to avert domestic violence by consulting counsellors in dealing with social or domestic matters, including relationships or marital problems.