Johannesburg - A convicted murderer’s offer to help educate the child whose mother she killed was angrily rejected by the child’s father, who said he didn't want her money.
Candice Prevost, who faces a stiff sentence for the murder of Nthabiseng Selesho, 23, said that if the court would be lenient on her, she would contribute towards Selesho’s two-year-old son’s education and be involved in his life as much as possible.
However, the baby’s father rejected Prevost’s offer.
“As much as I’m struggling financially, I don’t want a cent from her,” Ketso Monaheng said on Monday in the high court sitting in Palm Ridge.
Selesho was a jewellery saleswoman and Prevost was her client for two years.
On September 4, 2014, Prevost lured Selesho to the Boksburg home she shared with her fiancé Ashley de Villiers and former fiancé Wayne Williams under the pretext of wanting to buy jewellery.
There, Selesho was strangled by the trio, who also stole more than R300 000 worth of jewellery she was carrying. Later, the group drove to Lenasia with her body in her car, which they set alight. They sold some jewellery and bought drugs, and used some of the money to gamble.
At the time, Selesho’s baby boy was four months old and she had just returned to work after being on maternity leave.
In a letter handed to court on Monday, Prevost apologised to Selesho’s family. She said she had been on drugs at the time and did not intend to kill Selesho.
“I would also like to make restitution to the baby’s family in the event of leniency from the court that once on my feet, I’m prepared to assist in the education of the baby and, God willing, be involved as much as possible. Failing that, I’m prepared to assist the family in any way,” she said in the letter.
Monaheng, however, was having none of that. He said he did not ever want to see Prevost and her co-accused ever again.
Wiping tears from his eyes as he read from a letter he had written, Monaheng said the “calculated brutality” in which the trio took Selesho’s life, their lack of remorse and their lies would be forever etched in their minds.
He said he rejected Prevost’s apology because it was just a ploy to ensure a lenient sentence.
“Having to be a mother and father to Oratile (their son) is the most difficult thing. I struggle to make ends meet without her (Selesho's) salary. Oratile will never know what it’s like to fall asleep on his mother’s bosom,” he read.
“I beg this court to impose the harshest sentence. It will not bring Nthabi back but will bring a sense of justice and ensure we can learn to move on with our lives.”
Sentence will be handed down on Tuesday.
The Star