Mpumalanga parents sentenced for murder of their baby

The Mpumalanga High Court on Thursday handed a sentence of 25 years to Fanni Poloane and Keletso Sesi Maimela for the murder of their child.

The pair were convicted of murder and defeating the ends of justice after conspiring to murder their eighteen-month-old baby.

According to a statement by National Prosecuting Authority, the incident took place in September 2019 at Ga-Madiseng Riba Cross in Lydenburg, where the pair lived with their daughter.

They are originally from Burgesfort in Limpopo.

The cold-blooded murder

The court heard how Poloane, 31, and Maimela, 31 took their baby to the mountains around Lydenburg at night, where they submerged her head in a bucket of water until she drowned and died.

They then took the girl’s lifeless body and threw it in the bushes, before returning home.

The child’s disappearance was noticed by people close to the two, who when questioned could not provide a clear response.

The matter was reported to the police and they were arrested.

Police conducted an intensified search but they were unsuccessful in finding the body of the deceased.

Court evidence led by Advocate Thulani Msibi included testimonies from the accused’s family members, who said that after they took their child to the mountain, no one ever saw her again.

The pair testified against each other in court, with Maimela saying Poloane forced her to kill her baby.

Msibi prescribed life imprisonment for the pair, due to the deceased meeting her demise at the hands of her parents who were supposed to care for and protect her.

However, Judge Kgama Shai sentenced Poloane and Maimela to 20 years, adding five years for defeating the ends of justice.

He said infanticide would not be tolerated, and that the family has no closure because the body was never found.

The sentences will run concurrently.

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