MBOMBELA – A Barberton woman was found guilty of the brutal murder of her three-year-old son, who died in 2011. Mawande Nokwanda Matsebule (24) appeared in Mbombela’s Eastern Circuit District High Court on Monday where she was sentenced. The boy was three years and 11 months old when his mother beat him and kicked him to death. The victim, Siphosethu Mhlanga, was reported dead on October 6, 2011.
His killer compiled an affidavit on the day of his death, relaying her version of how he had died. According to Matsebule, Siphosethu became ill the previous evening, complained of a headache and struggled to keep his food down. She discovered that he was dead the next morning.
However, authorities had reason to believe that the toddler might not have died of natural causes and a murder investigation was launched. Const Phlupheki Petros Dlamini searched Matsebule’s house and could not find anything suspicious. He then proceeded to search her pit toilet and found Siphosethu’s clothes covered in blood and faeces. He also found towels that were soaked in blood. Dlamini previously testified that they had clearly been used to mop up blood. Matsebule was arrested and charged with ill-treatment, neglect and the murder of her little boy.
A post-mortem was conducted on the body and state pathologist Dr Gantcho Prodanov Gantchev testified about his findings last November. He stated that the victim had been brutally beaten and kicked to death. The judge, Mr Peter Mabuse, elaborated on Gantchev’s findings when addressing Matsebule last year: “The boy was kicked so hard that his skull cracked, but not hard enough for him to die. He died from blood loss over a period of 10 hours.” Matsebule was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for the murder. A period of one year’s imprisonment will be served concurrently with the 14 years as she was also found guilty of neglecting her son.
