Mom tells of mutilating son

2010-03-09 21:44

Pretoria - A Tembisa mother of three on Tuesday told the North Gauteng High Court how she stabbed her 5-year-old son to death before mutilating him because she regarded him as the source of her problems.

The court referred Batseba Irene Lekgeu, 26, for psychiatric observation after she handed in a plea explanation in which she admitted that in November 2008 she murdered her son, Andile, by strangling and stabbing him to death.

Her trial will resume in August.

Lekgeu said in her statement the fathers of her first and third children contributed towards their support, but the father of her middle child, Andile, was a known criminal, was untraceable and never made any contact with her.

The support she enjoyed from her family after her first child's birth disappeared with the birth of her second child and she was shunned and evicted from her home.

Clan rejection

In desperation, she took Andile to his father's family so they could raise him as she could not afford it, but they refused to take him in or accept him as a member of their clan.

She became depressed and was struggling to survive financially and worrying about it every day.

After taking her youngest child to her grandmother in Nebo, so she could heal him from the "hlangwana" child sickness, Lekgeu decided at sunset to kill her second child.

This was because the child's father and paternal family had abandoned him and his mere existence was the sole reason why the father of her third child had not yet married her.

Pre-meditated

The social grant was simply too little for adequate care as it hardly covered their food costs, she could not cope with her circumstances and also feared Andile would ultimately become a criminal like his father.

Lekgeu said she picked her son up in his blanket at midnight and took him to an abandoned house nearby.

"I put him on the floor and stabbed him around five times with a knife I took from my mother's house. He died on the scene quickly due to the stabs," her statement reads.

"I then had the idea to remove his ear and private part to divert attention from myself as the culprit by creating the impression that he was the victim of a muti murder committed by an unknown person."

"I further strengthened this perception by staging a housebreaking by throwing a rock through the window from outside my house."

Confession

"I was very shocked by my actions. I woke my grandmother, who mobilised the community to search for my son. During these events I realised I could not live with my lie and confessed to the authorities the same day."

"In hindsight I know I did not have any justification to stab him at the time of doing so. I know what I was doing was wrong. I admit it was my intention to end his life," Lekgeu said.

She stated she had a series of bad relationships with men, was in constant financial trouble and depressed due to the non-payment of maintenance.

She was overwhelmed, confused and upset at the time of the stabbing, but said she knew throughout what she was doing was wrong.

"I accept responsibility for the results of my actions. I'm very sorry for what I've done and the pain I've caused. I deeply regret what I've done every day," she added.

Lekgeu will remain in custody until her trial.

- SAPA