No jail time for mom who killed son, poisoned daughter

An Ekurhuleni woman who murdered her son and tried to kill her daughter because she lost money in a financial scam will not spend time in prison after a judge handed her a suspended sentence, saying she had shown remorse.

The 40-year-old woman, who can’t be named because the child she tried to kill survived and is under her care, was handed an eight-year sentence wholly suspended for five years on condition she is not convicted of murder during the suspension period.

Regarding aggravation of sentence, prosecutor, Jeffrey Nethononda urged the court to impose a sentence that reflected the seriousness of the offence and argued against deviating from the prescribed minimum sentence, given that the crimes were committed against the woman’s own children.

However, Pretoria high court acting judge Van der Westhuizen found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed life sentence.

“The court 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,” said Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.

On June 6 2022, she fed her 16-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter food laced with poison, Mahanjana said.

This occurred shortly after she had fallen victim to a financial scam and was unable to pay her children’s school fees. She had also recently discovered that she had contracted a disease, added Mahanjana.

“After feeding the poisoned food to her children, she drove with them towards the Free State. On 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.”

Mahanjana said that in her plea the mother stated that she had also confessed her actions to the doctor at the hospital and that police were called.

She was arrested and later released on bail.

She was later found guilty and during aggravation of sentence Nethononda had argued for a stiff sentence and even called the child’s father to testify for victim impact. The father testified that while he had forgiven the mother, he continues to struggle with the pain of losing his son.

During mitigation of sentence, said Mahanjana, the mother 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 she was remorseful and that at the time of the incident she was not in her right mind due to her recent diagnosis.

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