An Upper Tongaat farm labourer who murdered his girlfriend’s three-year-old son and tried to kill the child’s seven-year-old brother in a brutal Boxing Day attack in 2024 has been sentenced to double life imprisonment by the Durban High Court.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the sentence, which was handed down on May 26. In addition to the life terms, which he will serve concurrently, Fanisile Malukopo received a further six years’ imprisonment: five years for assault and one year for malicious injury to property.

Malukopo received a further six years’ imprisonment: five years for assault and one year for malicious injury to property.

Evidence presented in court revealed a pattern of abuse in the household. Malukopo had been in a relationship with the children’s mother, who moved into his home on the Lekha Sugar Estate in April 2024. He was described as possessive and violent, having assaulted her on multiple occasions.

The court heard that on Christmas Day, the couple had a heated argument during which Malukopo accused her of infidelity. He assaulted her, forcing her to flee through a window and seek refuge at a relative’s home.

Unable to take her children with her, the mother arranged for them to spend the night with a neighbour. The following day, Malukopo burnt his partner’s belongings before fetching her children under false pretences. The court heard that he took them separately to a nearby field, where he attacked them with a cane knife.

During sentencing proceedings, a victim impact statement compiled by the children’s mother described the devastating emotional toll of the attack. She said it was unbearable that her child had been murdered by someone who claimed to love her and that she had nearly lost her second child to the same man.

“The NPA hopes this sentence will serve as a deterrent to perpetrators of gender-based violence and crimes against children,” said NPA KZN regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara.

“Society has a collective responsibility to protect the most vulnerable, especially children. In this matter, the accused abused a position of trust and inflicted unimaginable harm on his family.”