Johannesburg - A 47-year-old woman has been handed a 30-year prison sentence for the “most horrific murder” of her daughter’s father.
In committing the murder, Cynthia Mokoatlo fed Johannes Maphanga rat poison, then covered his mouth with duct tape.
As Maphanga struggled to breathe, Mokoatlo strangled him, bundled him into a car and drove to Brakpan, about 50km away.
There, she took Maphanga out of the car and stabbed him several times. Satisfied he was dead, she poured a flammable liquid over his body and set it alight.
Sentencing Mokoatlo at the high court in Joburg sitting in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, Judge Solly Sithole said that what Mokoatlo did was the “most horrific crime” he had ever heard.
“You need to be punished appropriately for your horrible deed. Your first step was to poison him. One wonders what came through your mind as you were walking down the streets to buy it (the poison),” he said.
“Your second step was to deprive him of oxygen by putting tape on his mouth. He must have been helpless. The post-mortem states that the cause of death was asphyxiation and strangulation. This means you must have throttled him when he was in pain from your poison.
“Your third step was to drive to Brakpan to dump his body, but you had to make sure he had to die by stabbing him… Your fourth step was to burn him with a flammable liquid, then dump his body to destroy evidence. What kind of a human being are you to be so cruel?”
Mokoatlo and Maphanga were in a 13-year relationship and had a daughter, Thabiso.
Mokoatlo said she left Maphanga in 1993 because he was abusive. She went on to marry someone else, but the marriage did not work out. She met another man and they had a daughter, who is now 15.
A few years ago, Maphanga was arrested for attempted murder and handed a five-year jail sentence.
While he was in prison, Thabiso, 30, went to stay at his Alexandra house. Mokoatlo also went to stay in the house in 2008 and renovated it.
When Maphanga was released from prison in December 2012, he kicked Mokoatlo out, but she refused to leave.
In April last year, Maphanga’s charred remains were found in Brakpan.
Mokoatlo and her daughter were arrested and charged with murder. Mokoatlo pleaded guilty to murder last week, but Thabiso has distanced herself from the crime and will go on trial in March.
Judge Sithole has ordered that Mokoatlo spend an effective 20 years in prison before being considered for parole.
“You are wished a merry Christmas and happy New Year,” he said told her at the end of the sentence.
As Mokoatlo made her way to the cells, Maphanga’s sister Kate raised her arms and shouted: “Thank you, Jesus”.
The Star