Middelburg - A Mpumalanga mother has been found guilty of four murder charges for the premeditated murder of her four children with rat poisoning.
Appearing the Mpumalanga High Court, sitting in Middelburg, Zinhle Maditla's lawyer read out a plea statement that said she tried to consume of rat poison her in an attempt to kill herself, according to eNCA.
She also stated that she saw a hawker selling poison and bought it for R10 and wanted to kill herself and her four children.
Furthermore, she said that she had no defence in law for her conduct on the day and requested that the court show her mercy. Maditla was then convicted by the court.
She is set to continue her testimony on Tuesday.
In June, Maditla's lawyer claimed she was badly affected by the death of the four kids.
"We cannot change the fact that the applicant has always been hurt by the loss of her children," Legal Aid South Africa appointed attorney Mphile Ndzondo said.
Maditla was arrested on December 30, after she handed herself over to the Vosman police station shortly after the decomposed bodies of her four children – two girls, aged four and eight, and two boys, aged seven years and 11 months – were found in her rented room.