Durban - A 21-year-old mother who killed her child because she was unable to provide food for the crying 2-year-old was given a five-year suspended sentence by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday.
Judge Anton van Zyl found it would not be in the interest of justice or of Nontobeko Mosoeu if she were to go to prison.
The woman had been sentenced after a guilty plea. The judge said that at the time of the plea, she was emotional.
Mosoeu had told the court that in Pomeroy on October 31 last year, little Esihle had cried all day. She suffered from a disability resulting in an inability to sit or walk. Mosoeu did not understand her child’s condition. She said she knew the child was crying for food, but did not have the means to buy food.
“My family was not able to assist. In desperation, I could not see a way forward and took a belt with scarves on it and strangled her until she stopped breathing,” she said.
Mosoeu admitted her actions were wrongful, unlawful and intentional.
“I foresaw that strangling the deceased would result in her death and I reconciled myself to that.”
The judge said Mosoeu had received a grant for the child, which she used to spend on transport to Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg monthly, so the child could receive treatment.
He said Pomeroy was a considerable distance from the city.
“The circumstances indicate the act of killing the child was an act of desperation brought about by poverty and hopelessness.”
He said Mosoeu’s father and mother had deserted her, leaving her to take care of her younger sister.
Mosoeu was taken out of school in Grade 7 because of a lack of finances to pay for education.
Her only employment was occasional, as a domestic worker earning R30. The father of the child had only paid maintenance on three occasions.
Judge van Zyl commented that it was difficult to imagine the feelings of hopelessness and desperation that must have prevailed. He said the murder was wrong, but it was also an act of despair. He also took into consideration that she was a first-time offender.
The Mercury