Mother Receives Suspended Sentence In Poisoning Case
A mother from Dunnottar in Nigel has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, after being convicted of murdering her teenage son and attempting to murder her young daughter in a case that has shocked the local community.
The 40-year-old woman appeared before the Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni where she admitted to feeding her children food laced with poison on June 6, 2022.
The court heard that the incident occurred after she had fallen victim to a financial scam and learned she had contracted a serious illness, leaving her unable to pay her children’s school fees.
According to court documents, after poisoning her 16-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, the mother drove toward the Free State Province.
When the children began showing signs of illness near Frankfort, she stopped at a filling station seeking help and confessed what she had done. Emergency services rushed the children to Frankfort Hospital, but tragically, the teenage boy could not be saved.
“She immediately confessed her actions to medical staff at the hospital,” said NPA Regional Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana. “Police were called, and she was arrested but later released on bail.”
During sentencing proceedings, the mother requested leniency from the prescribed life sentence, citing her role as primary caregiver to her surviving daughter. She expressed deep remorse and told the court she was not in the right mental state when the incident occurred.
Prosecutor Advocate Jeffery Nethononda argued for a sentence reflecting the severity of crimes committed against her own children. The deceased boy’s father testified that despite forgiving the mother, he continues to struggle with the profound grief of losing his son.
Acting Judge Van der Westhuizen ultimately found substantial compelling circumstances to deviate from the mandatory life sentence, taking into account the mother’s genuine remorse, her caregiver status, emotional trauma from her relationship with her daughter’s father, and her documented mental health challenges including depression at the time of the incident.
The suspended sentence means the mother will not serve prison time unless she commits another murder within the five-year suspension period.