Durban - In a harrowing tale of murder, an uMlazi mother has told a Durban court that she was “not herself” when she killed her 20-month-old toddler, and on Wednesday asked for leniency so she could be a good mother to her three remaining children.
But the father of her children told the Durban High Court he was afraid to let her see them when she was released on bail before the high court trial, because she may have killed the children.
Zathini Khubisa, 31, pleaded guilty to murder on Tuesday and was expected to be sentenced on Thursday.
She admitted to putting her baby boy, Aphelele Khubisa, into a hole prepared for sewage that was filled with water on October 10, 2014 and then going back to sleep in the room she shared with her children at her sister’s house at Ezimangweni Reserve in the uMlazi District.
Not able to sleep because of what she had done, she went back to the hole but could not see her child or get inside as it was now almost full. She then went to her boyfriend’s house and lied saying the child was missing. With the police, she searched the area without saying a word.
The following day, she said she wanted to let everyone know where Aphelele was, but said she was afraid. She then thought of a plan. She pretended to speak to a traditional healer on her cellphone.
“I told them the traditional healer had told me that the child was close to my room but no more alive. They did not believe me and instead wanted to speak to the traditional healer themselves but I could not give them the contact number because I had never spoken to one,” read her written plea.
“I then thought of another plan. I suggested we search in the hole but community members who were there said it was impossible for the child to have fallen into the hole since it was covered.
I took some buckets and started taking water out of the hole. Some community members joined me. When the water was low I noticed the child lying down and I shouted I could see the body of my child.”
She said her boyfriend, Siyabonga Duma, assaulted her saying she had thrown their child there and had killed him. Members of the community, she said, also wanted to assault her, but police arrested her.
Khubisa testified during arguments for sentencing on Wednesday and said she had been stressed at the time because Duma was in a relationship with someone else, she was not getting along with her sister because she owed her two months rent and also because of her financial problems.
“I was no longer myself,” she said.
She was not working, saying she last worked in 2012 as a domestic worker but stopped working because no one was available to take care of her children. She alleged her mother, who was supposed to be looking after the children, did not take care of them.
Her three children are now in the care of Duma’s mother and sister and she has not been allowed to see or speak to them since her arrest.
She pleaded with acting Durban High Court Judge Sithembiso Maphumulo for leniency saying she had reached a stage now where she felt sorry for what she has done and that she knew she was supposed to be punished.
“I know what I did was wrong but I didn’t plan to do what I did. Please give me leniency so I can be a good mother to my children in the future,” she said.
Duma, however, gave the court examples of how she disappeared leaving her children alone, once for as long as six months.
He said he did not trust her with their children saying their eldest child did not speak about her, but their second child was afraid of her.
Daily News
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