Teddy Bear Foundation director Dr Shaheda Omar said the foundation was pleased with three life terms each, handed down to a mother Esther Brown and her brother Mike Brown for the brutal murder of Esther’s two-year-old daughter, Josephine Athalia Bombando.
The two were also given a further 18 months’ imprisonment each for contravention of the Immigration Act.
They were sentenced on January 18 in the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa.
Omar said the foundation commended the law enforcement and prosecution teams for following through and ensuring that justice was fulfilled.
“Of course, we cannot bring back the life of this child. Unfortunately, that is something that one has to live [with]. We cannot even comprehend the brutality that the child had to suffer at the hands of his mother and uncle, whom she sought protection from,” said Omar.
Little Josephine died in a ritual killing at a Midrand hotel in April 2021. She was declared dead by paramedics who were called by hotel staff after the siblings appeared in the reception area with Josephine’s lifeless body.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson in Gauteng Phindi Mjonondwane said the pair was immediately arrested.
“[Police investigations] pointed them to a possible ritual murder. Crucifix signs [in] oil were found on the room’s mirrors and other shiny surfaces. The autopsy report indicated that her death was because of the ‘application of external pressure to the neck, that left her thyroid fractured and blunt force trauma to the head. She further suffered injuries to her private parts,” said Mjonondwane.
Mjonondwane said during court proceedings, Advocate Paul Nel argued that the rape and murder were premeditated as part of a ritual killing and pleaded with the court to sentence the siblings to a term of life imprisonment for each count of rape and murder.
Mjonondwane said Nel added that the most aggravating factor was that this act was perpetrated by the deceased’s own mother and uncle, whom the deceased trusted and looked to for protection. “Their faces must have been the last images she saw whilst she was strangled to death,” Nel told the court.
The NPA commended the work done by the investigating officer Sergeant Phetole Moses Semosa and Nel in delivering justice to the father of the minor and the rest of the family.
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