Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has heard final arguments in the case against 36-year-old convicted killer Natasha Hansen, with the State calling for a lengthy prison term for the woman who murdered her five-year-old stepson.
Hansen was convicted of assault to do grievous bodily harm and murder in December last year. The case dates back 11 years to 2004.
In March 2004, five-year-old Gershwin Isaacs moved in with his father Russell Hansen and stepmother Natasha as his own mother was unable to take care of him financially.
By May, he would be dead.
The court found he had died after being subjected to repeated beatings by Hansen.
Earlier on Wednesday, prosecutor Megan Blows detailed some of the evidence heard during the trial.
She told the court to remember the gruesome photos of the boy’s body, and the testimony of a doctor who works for Red Cross Children’s Hospital. Professor Sebastian van As had told the court that the boy’s death was non-accidental.
Van As said the injuries Gershwin sustained could not have been caused by a fall as the accused had claimed.
Blows also argued that there was evidence before the court of witnesses who had seen Hansen abuse the boy.
Her neighbour, Cynthia Lakay, had seen the boy being badly beaten through the door.
Hansen’s two cousins had also witnessed severe injuries on the boy and they had testified against her during the trial.
Eudene Samuels and Carol Adams noticed that Gershwin had extensive injuries. When one of them asked the child how he sustained them, he told her Hansen had used a large spoon to beat him.
The cousins confronted Hansen and also went to the police. But, they were told to lay a formal charge. However, they were reluctant to do so because she was family.
The case very nearly did not reach the Western Cape High Court.
In 2005, charges against Hansen were withdrawn. But, in 2013, the Department of Public Prosecutions contacted police officer Victor Snyders and asked him to re-investigate the case. He did and in 2014 the case was finally placed back on the court roll.
Blows told the court that Hansen’s three children, aged 10, 15 and 17, would not be affected financially if she was sent to prison.
Her husband Russell Hansen earned a salary of R5 000 a month and would continue to support them. The children live with him and their maternal grandparents and had done so their entire lives.
Blows said they would not have to move from their home and would have emotional support from the family they resided with.
Blows also told the court that Hansen had never shown remorse, nor had she ever contacted Gershwin’s mother to apologise or to offer sympathy for her loss.
Furthermore, she said the boy’s death had had a devastating effect on his mother who had found it difficult to move on.
She said Hansen was not a candidate for correctional supervision, and asked the court to impose a lengthy prison sentence that would send a message to the community that child abuse could not be tolerated.
The defence, however, argued that Hansen was a first-time offender and was currently working with children at two schools where she coaches softball.
The court also heard that Hansen was sorry that the child had died while in her care.
The defence recommended a sentence of community service so that Hansen’s own children would not be punished for their mother’s crimes.
Sentence will be delivered on Thursday.
ANA