Cape Town - Natasha Hansen showed no emotion as she was handcuffed by police and led out of courtroom 10 in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
The 36-year-old mother of three will spend her first night in jail on Thursday after being sentenced to five years behind bars for the murder of her five-year-old stepson, Gershwin Isaacs.
Hansen was convicted of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and murder in December last year.
During the trial, the court heard evidence of her repeated assaults on the little boy in the two months that he lived with her and his father Russell Hansen.
The child’s mother, unable to support him financially, had sent him to live with his father Russell and stepmother Natasha in March 2004.
On May 28, he was rushed to Victoria Hospital and then transferred to Red Cross Children’s Hospital where he died.
Both Natasha and Russell Hansen were initially charged, but Hansen was acquitted and in 2005 the case against Natasha Hansen was withdrawn.
It would take another eight years before authorities would re-examine the case.
In 2013, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions instructed police officer Victor Snyders to re-investigate the case. Natasha Hansen was re-arrested and released on bail.
In November 2013, the trial finally started.
Catherine Wannenburg, mother of Gershwin Isaacs, has been waiting for justice for a long time, but outside court on Thursday she said she “didn’t feel nice as a sentence of five years felt like very little for someone who assaulted and killed a child”.
Trying to hold back her emotions, the shaken mother said she thought about her son all the time.
The boy’s aunt, Beredine Isaacs, said she felt the sentence was “ridiculous for a murder”. She said the family was haunted by the gruesome photos of the child’s body which showed “his hands were swollen, there was blood coming from his ears and on the day of his funeral there were still marks on his face”.
Professor Sebastian van As of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital had testified that the severity of the boy’s injuries could not have conceivably been caused by a fall as his stepmother had alleged.
In delivering sentence, Western Cape High Court Judge James Yekiso said it was not clear what had caused the delay in the matter or why the charges were withdrawn in 2005.
He told the court that Hansen was a first time offender who had been described as a dedicated softball coach who worked with children. She had been employed as a softball coach at Rhodes High for the past four years, and also worked at a primary school part time.
Yekiso said the prescribed minimum sentence for murder that was not premeditated was 15 years, while a minimum of ten years was prescribed for assaulting a child less than 12 years old.
However, he said in this case there were substantial and compelling circumstances for a lesser sentence.
Yekiso said he did not agree with the State’s suggestion that Hansen had benefited by the delay in the case as she had been able to continue with her life. Rather, he felt it was a case of “justice delayed, is justice denied” and that had compromised her right to a fair trial.
He also told the court that “there is nothing to suggest that she has committed more offences, nor that she has the propensity to commit such an offence again”.
He added “the punishment must be made to fit the crime” and said his fairness to society should be blended with mercy.
On both convictions, he sentenced her to five years and ordered that she serve two thirds of her sentence.
Approached for comment, her husband of fifteen years and Gershwin’s father, Russell Hansen, refused to be drawn on how he felt.
ANA