Four-year-old Jandre Botha refused to call his mother's lesbian lover "daddy" - and paid with his life.
Jandre's father, Jan Botha, was in the Vereeniging regional court's public gallery on Wednesday when his former wife, Hanelie Botha, 31, and her partner, Engeline de Nysschen, 33, were found guilty of the gruesome murder of his son.
He sat in court holding the hands of his fiancée, Yolanda Deysel, and listened attentively to magistrate Rita Willemse, who, in her judgment, accepted evidence that among the reasons that led to Jandre's brutal ordeal was his refusal to call De Nysschen "daddy".
The court had heard evidence from Lydia Nkomo and her daughter Aletta Lesiba, who worked for the couple in their tuckshop, that De Nysschen had viciously assaulted Jandre while demanding that he must call her "daddy".
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'His mother should have been aware of this' Both testified that while Jandre was assaulted, his mother failed to intervene or protect him. Evidence showed he had sustained horrific injuries, including a fractured skull and brain damage, as well as broken legs, collarbone, hands and pelvis.
The court accepted the evidence of Professor Mohammed Dada, a trauma expert, who said the boy's injuries were similar to those of a person who had fallen from a double-storey building.
Delivering judgment, Willemse acknowledged there was no substantial evidence linking Hanelie to the assaults, but said she was equally guilty of murder for failing in her legal duty to protect her child against abuse and violation.
The court found she had lied to Dr Elna Gibson, one of the medical doctors who treated Jandre, by saying the boy obtained his injuries after he had slipped in the bath.
The court ruled that she had lied to protect De Nysschen. The doctors who had examined Jandre dismissed the pair's version that he had slipped in the bath.
'She did nothing to protect her own child'
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