Johannesburg - She suffocated her 8-year-old son with a pillow at her Parkrand, Boksburg, home.
Then she took his lifeless body, put it into her car and drove to Dawn Park, a suburb a few kilometres away, where she placed it on the side of the road and burnt it.
As the corpse was engulfed by flames, Precious Maliepetsane Mokoena got into her car and went home.
She was arrested a few days later and charged with the murder of Lehlohonolo Magatikele.
In the Johannesburg High Court on Monday, Mokoena’s father’s eyes constantly brimmed with tears whenever he looked at his daughter.
Speaking to The Star, Abram Moepshe said he “can’t stop asking why”.
Mokoena pleaded guilty and, according to her lawyer, advocate Thabiso Mashitoa, the mother-of-two stated in her plea explanation that she had marital problems.
She had divorced her husband and was awarded custody of Lehlohonolo.
On January 13 last year, she smothered Lehlohonolo with a pillow, burnt his body and went home, she said in her plea explanation.