Pretoria – A 40-year-old mother from Dunnottar in Nigel, who fed her two minor children food laced with poison, resulting in the death of the 16-year-old, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
However, the Pretoria High Court, sitting in Benoni, “wholly suspended” the sentence for five years, on condition she is not convicted of murder during that period.
The woman was earlier found guilty of the murder of her 16-year-old son and the attempted murder of her 7-year-old daughter.
She can not be named to protect her young surviving daughter.
Evidence led in court showed that on 6 June 2022, the accused fed her two minor children – a 16-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl – food laced with poison.
The court heard that the woman fell victim to a financial scam that left her unable to pay her children’s school fees. Shortly after that she poisoned the fed her children food laced with poison.
She had also recently discovered that she had contracted a disease.
After feeding the poisoned food to her children, she drove with them toward the Free State Province.
Upon reaching Frankfort, the children began to fall ill.
She stopped at a local filling station, requested assistance, and disclosed what she had done.
Emergency services were called, and the children were transported to Frankfort Hospital, where the son died.
In her plea, the mother stated that she had also confessed her actions to the doctor at the hospital.
Police were called, and she was arrested, and later released on bail.
During the mitigation of sentence, she asked the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed life sentence because she was the primary caregiver of her surviving daughter.
She also told the court that she was remorseful of her actions, and at the time of the incident, she was not in the right frame of mind due to her recent diagnosis.
The father of the deceased child was also called to testify for victim impact.
He testified that while he has forgiven the mother, he continues to struggle with the pain of losing his son.
The prosecutor, Advocate Jeffery Nethononda, urged the court to impose a sentence that reflects the seriousness of the offence and argued against deviating from the prescribed minimum sentence, given that the crimes were committed against her children.
However, Acting Judge Van der Westhuizen found substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed life sentence.
The judge said she considered the mother’s genuine remorse, the fact that she is the primary caregiver of her surviving child, the betrayal and the emotional trauma she suffered from the father of her daughter, and her mental health challenges, including depression, at the time of the incident.
