THE South Gauteng High Court has sentenced a mother of a dead two-year-old and her partner to 25 years’ direct imprisonment and a life sentence respectively.
The duo were charged with sexual assault, aiding and abetting child abuse, attempted murder and murder.
According to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), both accuseds’ sentences would run concurrently.
The NPA alluded to the fact that accused number 1, the mother of the dead child, applied for leave to appeal her convictions as she believed she was innocent.
“We hope, if the appeal is granted, they up her sentence to life. Her behaviour in court was diabolical and she claims innocence after she destroyed her children’s innocence,” the NPA said.
Both offenders would be registered on both the child protection and sex offenders’ register.
The National Register for Sex Offenders was established by an act of Parliament in 2007. It is a record of names of those found guilty of sexual offences against children and people with mental disabilities.
The register gives employers in the public or private sectors such as schools, crèches and hospitals the right to check that the person being hired is fit to work with children or people with mental disabilities.
In terms of section 126 of the Children’s Act (38 of 2005), employers offering services which allow access to children must, before employing a person, establish from the Registrar of the National Child Protection Register whether the potential employee’s name is on Part B of the National Child Protection Register.
If the potential employee’s name appears, he or she will not be allowed to work in an environment which allows for access to children.
Speaking to Independent Media, Luke Lamprecht, head of advocacy for women and child abuse, said the organisation was appalled by the behaviour of the mother, who he described as having and “showing no remorse whatsoever”.
In as much as they welcomed the sentencing, Lamprecht said he believed that the mother too should have got a life sentence.
“The mother got 25 years because she was seen as aiding, and abetting while the partner was seen as the one committing the various abuses and the murder. For me it seemed like a good sentence, then the mother behaved in an untoward manner, when she was swearing at people, and then she wants to appeal, claiming she’s innocent, takes no responsibility and that got me thinking she should have also got a life sentence.
“Because one thing cannot exist without the other – in other words, she allowed this man to do this, she brought him into the house and allowed him to be in the children’s house,” he added.
Lamprecht said the mother never once broke down in court up until the sentencing, when she cried.
He said there were laws that governed the reporting of reasonable belief or suspicion that a child was being abused, and for sexual assault it had to be reported immediately to the police.
“Failure to report these matters is an offence and its punishable by a term in prison or a fine. We need to recognise that as a community as well as society, we have an obligation to report this to either the police, social workers or the court and we also need to follow up if those services are rendered”.
Saturday Star
Sipho.jack@inl.co.za