Polokwane – The mother of the four young children murdered by their father has welcomed the 52-year sentence handed down Friday by the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane, but said no amount of punishment would bring back her kids.
Speaking to media after sentencing on Friday, Lorraine Kekana said she was happy that her husband, Lesiba Kekana, had been punished for his crimes committed against her and her children.
“I am happy with the sentencing, though 52 years may sound light, it’s fair,” she said.
Lorraine Kekana, who broke down when giving testimony in aggravation of sentence on Thursday, said: “I don’t have a problem with the sentence, because there is no sentence that will bring back my children. If there was a sentence that will bring them back, I was going to recommend it.”
The Limpopo High Court sentenced Lesiba Kekana to 52 years imprisonment for the 2014 killing of his children whose throats he slit one by one. He was also found guilty on an additional count of assault relating to an earlier attack on his wife.
Judge Joseph Raulinga had said it is not disputable that Kekana’s wife was hurt and still traumatised by the death of her four sons.
The couple’s four children Bokang, 13, Keneilwe, 10, Hlologelo, 6, and Lekgoledi, 4, were killed at their Moletlane home in September last year.
Lesiba Kekana told court that he took a knife, slit the throats of his sons one after the other, shortly after he had had an argument with his wife over the phone.
She had broken down after she related to the court how she could hear on the phone her husband killing the children one by one – she said she could hear their terrifying screams.
The children were later found in the pool of blood.
Handing down sentence Judge Raulinga said although Kekana pleaded guilty without wasting court time, and advanced “personal circumstances” as the motive, the aggravating circumstances in the horror murders far outweighed these actions.
“What you did is catastrophic,” said Raulinga.
“Mr Kekana had not only killed his children in a horror manner, he has hurt his wife, the community of Moletlane, the people of South Africa,” said Judge Raulinga.
The court said that Kekana had had ample time to heal from his claim that he was angry with his wife after he found a used condom at her house in Gauteng. Kekana claimed his wife admitted to cheating.
Kekana’s legal representative, Desmond Nonyana, told court that they intended appealing the sentence.
African News Agency
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