Mother Who Poisoned Her Four Children With Rat Poison Gets 4 Life Sentences. Zinhle Maditla, the mother who poisoned her four children with rat poison, has been given four life sentences.
Zinhle Maditla, the mother who poisoned her four children with rat poison, has been given four life sentences. According to eNCA reports, Judge Sheila Mphahlele, the judge who gave her the sentence said that she was meant to protect her children. “Their mother was meant to nurture and protect them…she betrayed her own children,” says Judge Sheila Mphahlele.
The woman was convicted at the Mpumalanga High Court, where she asked for forgiveness from her family and from the family of the father of the children. The children passed away on the 26th of December, she then told her friend about the incident after four days. The Sowetan reports that the woman was going to meetup with the father of her children, who was supposed to purchase Christmas items.
She thus discovered that he was with another lady, that’s when the two of them started debating. She then decided to buy poison at the taxi rank when she saw people selling it. Zinhle Maditla says, “I left and while I was crying at the taxi rank, I saw people selling rat poison and I bought it.” The woman pleaded guilty to the killing of her four children, saying that she combined it with food for her three children and then spread some with yoghurt on her breasts for her 11-month-old child. Judge Sheila Mphahlele says she couldn’t find a reason to avert from the minimum sentence. “I am of the view that life imprisonment for all four children is the right sentence,” says the Judge.
by Alexandra Ramaite
