FATHERS are supposed to be their children’s superheroes.
But one from Soshanguve, Tshwane, has been handed a hefty prison sentence for the murder of one of his sons (two), attempted murder of two sons, aged eight and 11, as well as the rape of their mother.
The father laced viennas and russians with poison, and forced his children to eat them.
The man was sentenced yesterday by the North Gauteng High Court to two life terms for the offences.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokeswoman Lumka Mahanjana said in a statement: “He was also sentenced for the rape of his partner and mother of his children, housebreaking and three counts of contravention of the protection order. The father was in a relationship with the mother from 2004 to 2018.”
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Mahanjana said on 8 January 2019, she applied for a protection order against the accused. However, he contravened it by assaulting her, breaking into her house and raping her.
“It was put on record that the family of Mr X (the accused) pressured the mother into dropping the charges of rape.”
Mahanjana further said on 24 August, he fetched the two-year-old son from his mother and proceeded to fetch the two other kids from their paternal grandmother’s place to his.
“On their way, he fed them viennas and russians that were laced with poison. When the 11-year-old refused to eat, he assaulted him and forced him to. Upon arrival at his place, the children fell ill. He then called their mum and told her that he was going to kill them. She arrived and found the lifeless body of her son on top of his bed. She called the police and took the two children to hospital,” she said.
Mahanjana added that accused was arrested on the same day at a railway station, where he tried to kill himself and has been in custody since.
“In court, he pleaded not guilty and said the sausages were meant for the rats, not his children. The court found his testimony not to be true, and found that of the two kids honest and credible.”
