Child (3) beaten with rolling pin and strangled to death: Durban mother sentenced

The Citizen

21-05-2025

The Durban High Court sentenced a 35-year-old woman to 20 years' direct imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to the assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and murder of her three-year-old daughter in May 2022.
Rising Sun reports that in her plea, the accused said that she had a difficult childhood and had witnessed and been subjected to violence. She said that she was raped at the age of 17 and this traumatic experience had caused her to attempt suicide.
The accused said that she was destitute and staying in a shelter in 2019 when the deceased was born. She said that she met a woman on social media who offered to foster the deceased for her, and she agreed. The deceased went on to stay with the foster mother for three years.
During this time, the accused married the father of her youngest child. This man, who resides in the United Kingdom (UK), then encouraged her to bring the deceased back to live with them so that they could be a family. The child was thus brought back to her home.
However, her husband had to return to the UK because his South African visa had expired. He left her alone with the three children (her older daughter, the deceased and her youngest child). She said that she would often beat the two girls during her bouts of anger and throw things at them.
Regional spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, said: 'On May 31, 2022, the accused had taken her youngest child, who suffers from glaucoma, to the clinic as he was unwell. Her children were aged nine, three and one at the time. When she returned from the clinic, she tried feeding her youngest child, but he refused to eat and started crying. She then prepared food for the deceased, but she too refused the food and started crying. The accused said that she got angry and frustrated and hit the deceased with a rolling pin all over her body and on her head.'
She said that the children continued to cry, and the situation was worsened by the deceased soiling herself. She took the deceased to the bathroom to clean her up, but she continued to cry, as did the younger child.
The accused said that she was very angry and hit the deceased as she washed her. She eventually strangled the deceased. The accused said that her older child tried to stop her, but she was so enraged that she continued to attack the deceased. When she eventually realised that the child had stopped breathing, she panicked. She dressed the child and wrapped her in a blanket. Thereafter, she phoned her husband to tell him what she had done. He contacted a doctor, and the police were called to the scene.
'In court, the state, represented by Advocate Kelvin Singh, submitted victim impact statements, which were compiled by the deceased's foster mother and the deceased's sister, and facilitated by court preparation officer, Thandeka Nadi Mofokeng.
'In her statement, the foster mother said that she had taken care of the deceased since she was three weeks old until a month-and-a-half before she was murdered. The woman said that she is heartbroken and that the incident has adversely affected her. Further, she mentioned that she would have taken the deceased back if the accused had told her that she was not coping,' added Ramkisson-Kara.
In her statement, the deceased's sister said that she misses her sister a lot. She also said that she experiences nightmares and is afraid to sleep. The accused pleaded guilty to murder read with the provisions of Section 51 and Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997, which attracts a term of life imprisonment. However, during sentencing, the court deviated from life imprisonment and sentenced her to 20 years' imprisonment.
'In deviating, the court considered that the accused chose to plead guilty. The court also accepted that the accused had been a victim of physical and sexual abuse. The fact that the accused had been in custody for three years and that she required medication to treat some of her conditions also led to the court's deviation.
'The NPA welcomes the sentence handed down. This case underscores the NPA's commitment to ensuring that justice is served, particularly in cases involving crimes against the most vulnerable members of our society, children. We remain resolute in our duty to uphold the rule of law,' Ramkisson-Kara said.
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