A Pretoria woman who pleaded guilty to killing her two children was handed a 10-year sentence. (Charles O’Rear/Getty Images)
- The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has sentenced a 29-year-old woman to an effective 10 years‘ imprisonment for murdering her two children.
- The mother, who pleaded guilty to the charges on Monday, said in May 2022 she decided to kill herself because her husband was cheating and not helping with the children.
- In her plea statement, the woman said she decided to hang her children so they would not have to grow up without a mother.
A 29-year-old woman from Pretoria has been sentenced to an effective 10 years’ imprisonment after she murdered her two minor children because she said her husband was cheating on her and not helping with parental duties.
Lehlogonolo Mary Bokaba appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday, where she pleaded guilty to murdering her two children, a two-month-old and eight-year-old.
The court sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment for each count of murder and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Murder and attempted suicide
On 12 May 2022, Bokaba, who lived in Saulsville with her husband in his parent’s backroom, decided she was going to leave him.
“While the two were still in a relationship, Bokaba discovered the husband was continuously cheating on her, and he was also not assisting her with the children,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.
However, two days later, Bokaba woke up feeling overwhelmed with the state of her relationship and decided she would kill herself and her children to spare them from growing up without a mother, according to her plea statement.
After killing her children with a cord, she attempted to take her own life but was unsuccessful.
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Mahanjana said Bokaba then untied the children and placed them on a bed before calling her mother-in-law, who did not answer her call.
“When the mother-in-law went to the backroom to check, she found the bodies of the children on top of the bed. Police were called, and Bokaba was arrested and has been in custody since.”
Deviation from minimum prescribed sentence
Arguing in aggravation of sentence, prosecutor advocate Piet Luyt argued Bokaba committed a serious offence which not only led to the death of two minor children but resulted in severe emotional trauma for the victims’ families.
However, the court did not agree with the State’s submissions and found there were substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for murder.
Judge Mashudu Munzhelele found mitigating circumstances, including she did not waste the court’s time, pleaded guilty, and was a first-time offender.
“Furthermore, the judge said Bokama committed the offences under emotional distress,” Mahanjana said.
“She also made a plea that information should be made available to help women who feel they don’t have a way out.”
Mahanjana said the NPA welcomed the sentence.
Disappointed
Non-profit child protection organisation Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) said it was disappointed with the sentence.
WMACA’s head of advocacy, Luke Lamprecht, said they agreed with the State’s argument regarding aggravation of sentencing.
“This is the most serious violation of children’s rights,” Lamprecht said.
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He, however, did not agree with the court’s finding to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence.
“The fact that the offence was committed under emotional duress of an intimate partner relationship is not, in our opinion, a substantial and compelling reason to deviate from the minimum sentence.
“She punished the children because of a cheating man. Where we do agree is that there needs to be services for women, men, and children who don’t see a way out. These services are sadly decreasing, and they need increasing.”