The children of the Springs Monster are said not to trust grown-ups and also showed signs of aggression.
In the victim impact reports handed in by the state about the children, it was revealed the children were developmentally stunted because they never went to school.
In the statement read out during the trial in Pretoria on Monday, the two older children said they hated their parents and wanted nothing to do with them.
The father (40), dubbed the Springs Monster, tortured and tried to kill his son, also raped his eldest daughter and severely abused all five his children.
The severe torture and abuse of the children came to light after their eldest son fled to the neighbour’s house following a beating by his father in 2014.
A neighbour alerted the police, but by then the couple had hidden the boy in the ceiling and later took him to family in the Free State.
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The eldest daughter, who is now (20), said through the years she believed the abuse they went through was normal.
She only realised there was nothing normal about the treatment after going to stay with relatives.
The eldest boy (15) said he hates his father and if he could at the time of the torture, he would have killed him.
The boy said together with his siblings they would never be normal again even though he managed to save his siblings by escaping to seek help.
During the trial, psychologist Bronwynn Stollarz testified the accused revealed his own father severely abused him as a child.
He was also sexually abused by one of his father’s friends and he sunk into depression after both of his parents died during a murder-suicide incident.
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Stollarz said as a former officer with the police’s investigative psychology unit, she has interviewed many suspects but had never seen the degree of minimisation and lack of awareness as displayed by the father.
The accused believed he is rehabilitated because he found God.
He even started his own small church in prison, but the psychologist explained this could be part of his manipulative nature.
“I feel he knows what he did and says he feels sorry for it, but that does not indicate remorse.
“The father will remain a psychopath and sadist for the rest of his life and had negative prospects for rehabilitation but could be helped to improve his insight into his crimes and the impact they had on his children,” she says.
The Springs Monster was convicted on charges of attempting to murder his then 11-year-old son, raping his daughter (then 16), defeating the ends of justice and obstructing justice, five counts of child abuse, five of child neglect and of drug dealing and possession.
The mother, who was described as a battered woman by the court, was convicted of defeating the ends of justice and obstructing justice, as well as five charges of child neglect and possession of drugs.
The State asked for long-term imprisonment for the father and direct imprisonment for the mother.
The counsel for the mother argued she should only receive a suspended sentence because she was also a victim of abuse.
