Pretoria - A mother who stabbed her newborn daughter several times with a pair of scissors because she did not want to take care of the infant has been sentenced to 22 years direct imprisonment by the Mpumalanga High Court.
Phindile Sibiya, 26, from Belfast, in the district of Bushbuckridge, pleaded guilty to murdering her female infant.
She told the court that she had intentionally killed her infant and then buried the tiny body in a shallow grave, said Monica Nyuswa, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in Mpumalanga.
Sibiya said she met the love of her life last year at her homestead in Belfast Trust. He proposed love and she accepted, especially as he promised to marry her in future, she said.
On their second meeting, they had consensual, unprotected sex and she later discovered she had fallen pregnant.
Realising that she was expecting a child, she tried calling the would-be father to share te news. But his phone number was no longer in service and she did not manage to get hold of him.
Confronted by her mother, Sibiya denied that she was pregnant.
She said her mother threatened her that should she be pregnant again, she was going to chase her away from the house. The mother reasoned that Sibiya already had two children from different fathers who were not financially supporting the children and had to be taken care of by her (the grand mother). Sibiya said she decided to go to the clinic to terminate the pregnancy, but she was already in the last stages of pregnancy and could thus not obtain a legal abortion.
She kept her pregnancy secret until the delivery date – New Year’s Day this year. On January 1 she had labour pains and went to the toilet twice to pass urine. The third time, she took a pair of scissors with her.
On her way to the toilet, she gave birth and immediately stabbed the baby with the scissors several times until she died. The next morning her mother noticed blood stains. Questioning her, she admitted having given birth and concealing the body.
Sibiya reported it to police. She was arrested and charged with murder and defeating the ends of justice.
Nyuswa said it was argued in aggravation of sentence that the baby suffered a cold, painful death by her own mother, who was supposed to protect her. A post-mortem report confirmed the baby was born alive. It was argued that the mother deserved no other sentence other than direct imprisonment.
Pretoria News