Mary Bokaba, a 28-year-old mother who killed her two young daughters, has been sentenced to 20 years of direct imprisonment.
The daughters were eight years old and two months old at the time of their deaths. Bokaba received 10 years for each child’s death, with the sentences running concurrently.
She lived with her husband and their two-month-old daughter in a backroom at his parents’ house in Saulsville, Pretoria.
According to NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, Bokaba discovered her husband was cheating on her and not helping with the children.
Feeling overwhelmed, she decided on May 14, 2022, to kill herself and her children by hanging.
After unsuccessfully attempting suicide, she untied the children, placed their bodies on the bed, and called her mother-in-law, who discovered the tragedy.
Judge Mashudu Munzhelele noted Bokaba’s emotional distress and guilty plea as substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the minimum sentence, acknowledging her as a first-time offender.
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