The High Court in Pretoria has sentenced 29-year-old mother, Lehlogonolo Mary Bokaba to 20 years direct imprisonment after convicting her on two counts of murder.
The woman from Saulsville, west of Pretoria has been convicted for brutally killing her two girl children – a two-month-old infant and an eight-year-old girl.
Gauteng spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Lumka Mahanjana said the court ordered that the two, 10-year sentences run concurrently.
“This is after she pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against her on (Monday) May 13, 2024. Bokaba was in a love relationship with the father of the two-month-old baby and was staying with him in his back room, in his parent’s backyard,” Mahanjana narrated.
“While the two were still in a relationship, Bokaba discovered that the husband was continuously cheating on her, and he was also not assisting her with the children.”
In May 2022, the NPA said Bokaba decided to leave her husband and she called her mother to help her move on May 14, 2022.
However, when she woke up on that morning, she told the court in her plea statement, that she felt overwhelmed with the state of her relationship with her husband and decided to kill herself and her children by hanging them with a cord “to save them from the consequence of growing up without a mother”.
“After hanging and killing the children, she attempted to commit suicide by also hanging herself, but was unsuccessful. She then untied the children, placed them on the bed, and buzzed (tried to call) her mother-in-law,” said Mahanjana.
The horrendous incident was discovered by the mother-in-law after she had received a missed call from Bokaba.
“Bokaba had not gone to her in-law’s house to prepare food for the children. When the mother-in-law went to the back room to check, she found the bodies of the children on top of the bed. Police were called and Bokaba was arrested and has been in custody since,” said Mahanjana.
In court, during the sentencing proceedings, advocate Piet Luyt argued in aggravation that Bokaba committed a serious offence which resulted in loss of life of two minor children and severe emotional trauma for families of the children, who are still suffering from unresolved trauma.
“When handing down the sentence, Judge Mashudu Munzhelele found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years because Bokaba did not waste the court's time, she pleaded guilty, and she was a first-time offender,” said Mahanjana.
Furthermore, the judge highlighted that Bokaba committed the crimes while she was under emotional distress.
The court also made a plea that information should be made available widely, to help women who feel they that they do not have a way out in life.
Last week, IOL reported that a 48-year-old Limpopo mother, Stephina Sefekwane Chuene, appeared before the Polokwane Magistrate's Court after she was arrested for the brutal murder of her 18-year-old wheelchair-bound son.
“She was remanded in custody until May 16, 2024 for formal bail application,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the NPA in Limpopo said in a joint statement.
“Her arrest comes after police received a report about the murder of a young man, on Friday, May 3, 2024, at around 1pm in Leshikishiki village at Lebowakgomo policing area.”
When police arrived at the scene, next to a local tavern, they found the decapitated body of the 18-year-old boy lying in his wheelchair.
IOL