Mom, 21, jailed for killing child
2007-10-23 21:19
Grahamstown - A 21-year-old woman was on Tuesday sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of her four-year-old daughter.
Yandiswa Masinda of Port Alfred pleaded guilty in the Grahamstown High Court to the murder of her daughter, Somilangaye, at Masinda's mother's house on April 30.
Masinda admitted to slitting the girl's throat but said she did not know why she had done it.
Judge Andre Erasmus, sitting with two assessors, had previously called the crime an "enormity where a mother kills her own child".
There were substantial and compelling circumstances present in the case, but they were not sufficient to persuade him to not prescribe the minimum sentence of 15 years.
'Bizarre, tragic case'
Earlier, in argument in mitigation of sentence, her lawyer Mike MacCullem, told the court that in all his years of experience, both as a prosecutor and defence lawyer, he "had never come across such a bizarre and tragic case".
Masinda stood in the dock blinking back tears, as the Judge described the killing of her daughter as "a cold, calculating and deliberate act accomplished without emotion".
"It is a startling feature of this case that the accused deliberately and intentionally killed her own child. Her plea explanation makes chilling reading.
"The court has had sight of crime scene photos of the dead child which are pathetic and horrific. Her neck structures were severed."
He said the motive for the killing was of cardinal importance, but the court could discern none - despite a significant period of psychiatric evaluation and a separate court ordering psychological assessment by an isiXhosa-speaking clinical psychologist.
"The killing of her child runs counter to the basic instinct of a mother to love and protect her child.
No mental abnormalities
"By all accounts she was a good mother who fell pregnant at 15 and was forced to drop out of school. She loved the child and there has been no evidence that she was ever physically or emotionally abusive towards the child."
He said that despite all the interviews and tests conducted by a team of psychologists and psychiatrists, no serious mental abnormalities had been diagnosed, except a high score on the psychopathic deviation scale.
He granted Masinda leave to appeal against sentence on the grounds that another court may come to a different finding.
Masinda's elderly mother and aunt wept and hugged her, before she was led down to the cells to begin her sentence.
State advocate Lwazi Ngondwana prosecuted, and MacCullem was instructed by the Legal Aid Board.
- SAPA