The Mpumalanga High Court has convicted and sentenced Phindile Sibiya (26) from Belfast Trust, in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, to 22 years’ direct imprisonment for murdering her baby girl and defeating the ends of justice. Sibiya was sentenced on Wednesday November 9.
The Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, said Sibiya pleaded guilty to intentionally killing her baby and burying her in a shallow grave.
“She told the court that during 2021, she met a certain man who had visited her homestead in Belfast Trust. The man proposed love to her, and she accepted his proposal as he promised to marry her in future. On their second meeting, they had consensual unprotected sex and she thereby conceived. Upon realising that she was pregnant, she tried calling the would-be father to inform him of the situation, but his phone was no longer in service. Then her mother realised she was pregnant. When she confronted her, she denied it, despite knowing that she was indeed pregnant.
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“The mother threatened her and said should it be true that she was pregnant, she was going to chase her out of the house. As she already had two minor kids from different fathers who were not supporting the children, she decided to go to the clinic to terminate the pregnancy, but was unsuccessful, because she was in the last stages of pregnancy. She kept her pregnancy a secret until the delivery date, which was January 1. She felt labour pains and went to the toilet on two occasions, where she passed urine, and on the third occasion, she took a pair of scissors with her. On her way to the toilet, she knelt and gave birth to a female child, whom she immediately stabbed with scissors several times until she died.”
Nyuswa said according to Sibiya, her mother noticed the bloodstains in the morning and questioned her.
“The accused admitted to having given birth and concealing the deceased. She went to retrieve the deceased’s body, and the matter was reported to the police, hence her conviction and sentence.”
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Nyuswa said in aggravation of the sentence, state advocate Tula Bekwa told the court that the deceased had suffered a cold and painful death at the hands of her mother, who was supposed to protect her. A photo album and a post-mortem report that confirmed that the deceased was born alive, were handed in, including a social work report that proved that the accused was not a candidate for correctional supervision.
Nyuswa said the NPA acknowledged the conviction and sentence.
