A three-month-old baby girl has been eaten alive by giant rats after her mother left her at home alone to go partying.

The child was devoured by rodents as she lay on a bed - and neighbours have called for her mother to 'rot in jail'.

Her 26-year-old mother, who has been arrested for child neglect, returned home to discover the horrific scene in the township area of Katlehong in Johannesburg.

The 26-year-old mother was arrested following the child's death in East Rand in Johannesburg

Thankfully the girl's twin brother, named Lucky, was spared a similar painful death, as he was taken out with his parent on the all-night drinking binge.

The baby could only have died a painful death. The infant's tongue, eyes and fingers had all been eaten. Neighbour

Describing the horror scene, a neighbour said: 'The baby could only have died a painful death. The infant’s tongue, eyes and fingers had all been eaten.

'Besides the missing body parts, the remains of her body had bites and wounds all over that were inflicted by the sharp teeth of the rats. This woman must rot in jail.

'She does not deserve to be a mother.'

Noluthando Mtshali, daughter of the mother's landlady, said: 'The only thing this woman likes is going out partying in the local shebeens.

A giant rat in South Africa, much like the ones which are thought to have killed the three-month-old infant at the weekend

'I just could not bring myself to go in and see what happened to this poor child.

'She has been a tenant since the beginning of the year and her twins were both in hospital last week but we do not know why they had been taken to hospital.

'Witnesses said it was not the first time she had left the twins on their own but it was the first time she had left only one child.'

And she continued: 'When people were asking where the other child was, she would say it was in her sister’s care.

'She came back in the early hours of the morning with a new boyfriend and they tried to break into the shack since she had lost the key and they found the baby girl dead.

'They were claiming that the child was burnt.'

The woman's landlady, Mama Sesi Mtshali, said: 'We have lots of rats in the area. She leaves the children alone all night long and they cry themselves to sleep. She would not say she left the baby alone.'

The surviving twin is now in the care of his 28-year-old father and his new girlfriend.

The father, who has not been named, said: 'My ex-girlfriend gave birth to twins a boy and a girl and on Friday she took the boy and left the girl in the shack.

'When she came back the following morning at about 6.30am the baby girl was dead.'

And his girlfriend said: 'The mother always comes here drunk and locks the infants inside alone.

In 2011 Lunathi Dwadwa, three, was killed and eaten in a shack outside Cape Town in 2011 as she slept on the floor beside her parents

'When Lucky came to us he looked like he had not eaten for days but he is fine now.'

Captain Mega Ndobe, from Katlehong police confirmed that the mother had been arrested, and said she had apparently gone drinking.

She said: 'I can confirm the little girl died after being eaten by rats. The mother has been arrested and is facing charges of child negligence and the case will be heard in court next year.'

It is not the first time children have been eaten by rats in South African townships.

In 2011 Lunathi Dwadwa, three, was killed and eaten in a shack outside Cape Town in 2011 as she slept on the floor beside her parents.

When her mother discovered her lifeless body, she saw that her daughter's eyes had been gouged out.

Bukiswa Dwadwa, 27, said: 'I can't forget how ugly my child looked after her eyes were ripped out.

'She was eaten from her eyebrows to her cheeks, her other eye was hanging by a piece of flesh.'

Her father Mncedisi Mokoena said police told him: 'Nothing could have done that but rats.'

The same year another infant was eaten alive in a shack in Soweto while her mum was out with friends.