Durban – A man who murdered his toddler son, force-fed his older sons poison-laced food and raped their mother, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Pretoria High Court.
Known as Mr X to protect the identities of the woman and their children, the man was handed two life terms and 33 years imprisonment for murder, attempted murder, rape, housebreaking and contravening a protection order.
NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the man and woman were in a relationship between 2004 and 2018.
“In January 2019, the woman applied for a protection order. He contravened an interim order by assaulting her and breaking into her house and raping her. It was placed on record that he pressured her into dropping the rape charge,” she said.
Mahanjana said in August 2019, the man collected the two-year-old and went to fetch the older two, aged 8 and 11 at his mother’s house and took them home.
While on the way to his house, he fed the 8 and 11-year-old food laced with poison. He assaulted the older boy after he refused to eat the food.
Mahanjana said upon arrival at his place, the children fell ill. He then called their mother and told her that he was going to kill the children.
The mother arrived and found the lifeless body of the two-year-old on top of his bed. She called the police and took the two children to the hospital.
Mr X then went to a railway station and tried to take his own life but he was arrested and has been in custody since.
“In court, he pleaded not guilty and told the court that the Vienna’s and Russian’s laced with poison were meant for the rats and not his children. However, the court found his testimony not to be true and, found the testimony of the two children to be honest and credible,” the NPA said.
Advocate Pieter Coetzer, in aggravation, said the accused had been convicted of serious offences.
Coetzer added that Mr X put his sons through trauma as they had to testify against him.
“In his sentence the judge said Mr X had no regard for the law, he committed the offences while there was a protection order against him, and that Mr X was not a candidate for rehabilitation. Therefore, he found no existence of substantial and compelling circumstances,” Coetzer said.
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