Johannesburg – Rochelle Botha, who was convicted of multiple crimes including the rape and murder of her two-year-old baby, Chevonne Rusch, will have to serve her 25-year prison sentence after her request for leave to appeal was turned down on Wednesday.
Earlier this year on 29 April 2024 the South Gauteng High Court sentenced Botha, the mother of the deceased two-year-old, and her partner Stefan van Niekerk to an effective 25 years in prison and a life sentence respectively.
Botha’s full sentence includes 25 years in prison for murder, 25 years for aiding and abetting rape, 10 years for the attempted murder of another minor, 10 years each for abuse of two minors, and an additional five years for aiding and abetting sexual assault.
Botha was 23 years old when she committed the crimes in cahorts with her 35-year-old partner Van Niekerk.
The murder case was opened in May 2022 after lifeless Chevonne was taken to Wannenburg Clinic in Primrose.
Police at the time said the baby was wrapped in a blanket and had blood in her mouth and bruises all over her body.
Baby Chevonne also had a wound on the back of her head,
A pathologist assigned to the case told the court that Chevonne’s body was had 49 bruises.
Botha’s partner Van Niekerk was sentenced last November to two terms of life imprisonment for murder and rape, 10 years each for child abuse of two other children, 10 years for sexual assault, and 15 years for attempted murder.
The court found that the surviving children’s evidence showed more merit and was far superior to the accused who gave various versions of what happened.
The court rejected Botha’s version as not reasonably possibly true.
Leave to appeal was denied.
The shocking death of little Chevonne Rusch at the hands of the couple from hell, who subjected the baby and her siblings to brutal abuse, prompted public outrage.
Commenting on the court outcome Luke Lamprecht said: “As activists in the field of child protection, Women and Men Against Child Abuse are very grateful that the judge did not grant this leave to appeal”.
