SASOLBURG – The Free State High Court, sitting in Sasolburg, sentenced Jonas Mokoena on February 5.

The court heard the details of how he took the lives of Mpho Dhlamini (41), and their one-year-old son, Omphile Innocent Mokoena.

The case began on January 16, 2025, when the victims’ bodies were discovered in a shallow grave in an informal settlement in Qalabotjha, Villiers.

According to police spokesperson Sergeant Josephine Rani, the baby’s body was found in a sports bag on top of his mother’s body.

Before the bodies were found, Mokoena had tried to cover his tracks by telling his landlord that his partner and child were away in Balfour.

As soon as the remains were discovered, Mokoena went into hiding.

An allocation of a detective from the Free State provincial police led to a frantic search that yielded successful results.

“The case was allocated to Detective Sergeant Ivy Maisa, attached to the Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes Investigation Murder and Robbery Unit, and she thoroughly gathered all the evidence, which led to the arrest of Mokoena, who was found at a hiking spot heading to Balfour on the same day by members of Villiers SAPS,” Rani said.