Father slapped with two life terms after he poisoned sons and raped their mother

A Soshanguve father has been handed two life sentences and an additional 33 years by the Pretoria High Court on Friday for the murder and attempted murder of his three sons.

Mr X, whose identity has been sealed from the media to protect the surviving children, was also sentenced for raping the mother of his children, housebreaking and three counts of contravention of the protection order.

The crimes

The crimes he was convicted of started on 8 January 2019, when a protection order was filed against him by the mother of his three children.

Despite the protection order, he broke into her house, assaulted her and raped her.

The woman was his partner from 2004 until 2018. She reported the rape and assault to the police. Records showed that Mr X’s family pressured the woman to drop the rape charges against him.

According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, the unfortunate incidents that led to his arrest happened on 24 August 2019.

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Laced sausages with poison

On the day, Mr X fetched his two-year-old son from his mother and then went to pick up his eight-year-old and 11-year-old at his mother’s house.

On their way to his house, he fed the three children Viennas and Russians laced with poison.

“When the 11-year-old refused to eat at the Viennas, he assaulted him and forced him to eat. Upon arrival at his place, the children fell ill, he then called their mother and told her that he was going to kill the children,” said Mahanjana.

The panicked mother then rushed to his house where she found her two-year-old already dead on his bed. She then called the police and took the other two children to the hospital.

Mr X then attempted to end his life at a railway station but failed and was arrested on the same day.

During court proceedings, he pleaded innocent and said the laced sausages were meant for rats not his kids. The judge said his version of events were not true.

The two children testified in court against him and the judge found their evidence credible.

“In his sentence the judge said Mr X had no regard for law, he committed the offences while there was a protection order against him, and that Mr X was not a candidate for rehabilitation. Therefore, he found no existence of substantial and compelling circumstances,” added Mahanjana.

Compiled by Kgomotso Phooko

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