Child-murderer mother gets 22 years behind bars

An Eastern Cape mother who suffocated her two children to death was on Thursday handed a 22-year and six months prison sentence by the High Court in Bhisho.

Busisiwe Labi, 34, confessed to the murder of her one-year-old Othandwayo and six-year-old Amyoli in September 2020.

A psychological report presented in court revealed a spine chilling confession by Labi, and that she had informed the children of her plans for them before the murder.

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“The eldest boy, Amyoli, pleaded with her not to do so but his plea fell on deaf ears. She prayed with the boys before taking turns to suffocate them to death with plastic bags and pillows and thereafter laid their bodies neatly on a bed,” explained NPA spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani.

After Labi murdered her children she phoned her 42-year-old sister and told her what she had done.

Ngcakani said that the court heard Labi had a conflicted relationship with her mother, who “allegedly never revealed the identity of her father until she was in high school, further stating that she was angry towards her mother and felt betrayed.”

It was revealed during sentencing that part of the motivation for the murders was that Labi wanted to cause her mother grief, as the mother had a close relationship with her grandchildren.

“It also emerged that a day before murdering her boys Labi got into an argument with her mother as the mother gave her younger brother money which was meant to be used for items in the household. Labi felt that her mother favoured her brother over her.”

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Judge Belinda Hartle during sentencing quoted Labi’s sentiments that although she loved her children she didn’t want to be a mother, due to her being homosexual.

Although Judge Hartle agreed with the prosecutor, Advocate Deolin Willemse, that the offences committed were “spine-chilling”, “horrific” and that “leniency for mercy’s sake would be wrong”, she ruled that there were compelling circumstances present in the case to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.

Judge Hartle stated that one of the reasons was that, in spite of the murders being premeditated in that she waited until she was alone with the children in the house to murder them, Labi cooperated with police from the onset and gave a detailed confession of events leading to the murders and the actual murders.