Dad sentenced to life for murdering his baby
"He pointed the police to a shallow hole where the body of the deceased baby was covered with huge rocks."
A 31-year-old Soshanguve man was sentenced to life imprisonment and an additional five years imprisonment this week for murdering his three-month-old baby.
This was as the Pretoria high court found Thabang Lephoi guilty on Tuesday of murder and defeating the administration of justice, according to NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
“On the morning of November 10, 2017, Lephoi came back from a night shift at about 07:00 to the house he shared with the mother of his baby,” said Mahanjana.
“When he arrived, he started packing the baby’s belongings and getting the baby ready. When the mother asked what he was doing, he told her he was taking the baby to live with his mother in Vryburg.
“An argument broke out between the two as the mother refused that Lephoi take the baby to his mother’s place.
“During the argument, Lephoi assaulted the mother. She then left the house to look for Lephoi’s uncle who lived nearby to ask for his help.”
Mahajana said when the mother returned, Lephoi and the baby were gone and she reported the matter at the police station.
“Lephoi was phoned by the police and was asked for his whereabouts and those of the baby. He agreed to come to the police station where the mother was.
“When he arrived at the police station, he was asked to take the police to where the baby was. He pointed the police to a shallow hole where the body of the dead baby was covered with huge rocks. Lephoi was arrested on the same day and has been in custody since then.”
Mahanjana said state advocate Juliet Makgwatha argued in aggravation of the sentence that the offence was premeditated.
“She said the accused was in a position of trust and had a duty to care, nurture, love and protect the deceased. Instead, he betrayed this trust in the worst possible way, killing him in a gruesome manner.
“He did this just to spite the mother and this constituted the worst form of gender-based violence.”
Mahanjana said the NPA welcomed the sentence.
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