Nigel mother avoids life sentence after poisoning her children

A Nigel mother’s remorse, her role as a primary caregiver and her mental health challenges spared her from being sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering her son and attempted murder of her daughter.

The 40-year-old mother from Dunnottar in Nigel fed her 16-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter poisoned food on 6 June 2022 after she fell victim to a financial scam and discovered she had contracted a disease.

Due to her financial situation, the mother was unable to pay her children’s school fees.

Mother poisoned teen son and daughter

After the depressed mother gave her children the poisoned food, she drove with them towards the Free State. When they arrived in Frankfort, the children started getting sick.

She stopped at a local filling station and asked for help after revealing what she had done to her children.

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Emergency services responded to the call and transported the children to Frankfort Hospital, where the son tragically died.

The mother said in her plea that she had also admitted what she had done to the hospital’s doctor. The police arrested her after being called and later released her on bail.

As the primary caregiver for her surviving daughter, the mother requested that the court deviate from the prescribed life sentence during the mitigation of the sentencing process.

Unhealthy frame of mind

In addition, the mother expressed remorse for her actions, stating that her recent diagnosis had left her in an unhealthy frame of mind at the time of the incident.

For the victim impact report, the father of the deceased child testified and said in his statement that even though he has forgiven the mother, he still feels the anguish of losing his son.

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Given the crimes committed against her children, the prosecution, advocate Jeffrey Nethononda, argued against deviating from the minimum sentence and instead requested the court to impose a sentence that reflected the seriousness of the crime.

In delivering the sentence in the Pretoria High Court, sitting in Benoni, acting Judge Van der Westhuizen found that there were strong reasons to depart from the recommended life sentence.  

Sentenced to eight years, suspended for five years

“The court considered the mother’s genuine remorse, the fact that she is the primary caregiver of her surviving child, the betrayal and the emotional trauma she suffered from the father of her daughter, and her mental health challenges, including depression, at the time of the incident,” National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.

The Pretoria High Court sentenced the mother to eight years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on condition that she is not convicted of murder during the period of suspension.