A young girl was sentenced in the regional court in Louis Trichardt on April 30 after being convicted of murdering her newborn child. The girl was 15 years old at the time of the crime.

The girl was made pregnant by her boyfriend at the time. He was not interested in assuming responsibility for the child and became involved in another relationship. When the girl revealed her pregnancy to her mother, the latter responded by giving her a severe beating and denouncing her. The girl then turned to her grandmother, who provided her with muti to get rid of the child. When this did not have the desired effect, she went to a clinic. Upon examination, the doctor in charge told her that it was too late to abort the child, as she was already six months along.

The girl carried the child to full term, but when the time came for the child to be born, she was left alone in a room to go through the process by herself. Her grandmother was in the room next door and her mother had left the house. Once the child was born, the girl strangled the baby to death. She then pretended that the child had been stillborn. With the assistance of her family, the child was wrapped up and buried in the corner of the yard in a white coffin. No-one had informed the police of the birth and death of the child.

Neighbours became suspicious when they made enquiries about the birth of the child. It was then that the grandmother confessed that she had heard the child cry and that it had not been stillborn. The neighbours informed the police, who came and dug up the child and took the body for a post mortem. Tissue from the child’s lungs confirmed that it had in fact drawn breath before it died. The mother was then charged with concealment of a birth and murder. She was found guilty and sentenced in the regional court.

The state did not request jail time for the girl. In mitigation, it was argued that the girl had been 15 years old at the time. She had not received any assistance or emotional support from those closest to her and she had acted out of desperation. She received a five-year jail sentence, suspended for four years.