Four life sentences for Limpopo lawyer who murdered his 4 children

Former attorney Lucas Phasha, who killed his four young children after a fallout with their mother, was sentenced to four life imprisonment in the Polokwane High Court in Limpopo on Friday.

Phasha, 52, was on parole for different murder and attempted murder cases when he killed his children. An axe was used to kill three of the children and a rock was used to kill the youngest.

It was against this background that Judge Gerrit Muller found that Phasha was not a candidate for rehabilitation.

Muller said: “This is a horrific crime, and the accused is not a candidate for rehabilitation as he has previous convictions of murder and attempted murder.”

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Phasha was arrested in Lebowakgomo while on the run after killing the children – Katlego, 9; Joyce, 7; Tshepo, 5; and Adel 3 – in Ga-Phasha village in the Sekhukhune district on 17 February 2021.

Before the murders, he claimed on Facebook that his wife, Sylvia Monyela, had cheated on him and said she would never see the children again.

But, in his evidence-in-chief, Phasha claimed that a Nelson Phasha had framed him after a fierce disagreement over chieftainship and mining development in the village. He also claimed the children might have been killed by a businessman of Indian descent who he was at loggerheads with over a business transaction.

After the sentencing, his wife told the media that she felt happy about the outcome of the case.

“I’m very happy about the judgment and the fact that I won’t see him for the rest of his life. I’m so happy I don’t even know what to say. Let him go.

“Even though he denied his actions, the court has found that he killed my children,” the wife said.

When asked whether he would ask for forgiveness from his wife, Phasha said: “She said she doesn’t want it. I can’t force it.”

Russel Molefe