Pair get life for Poppie’s murder
JUSTICE was served for three-year-old Poppie van der Merwe when her biological mother Louisa Koekemoer and stepfather Kobus Koekemoer were each sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.
Yesterday, Louisa, 47, and Kobus, 44, were sentenced to an additional 10 years each for child abuse.
In the Pretoria High Court, Judge Bert Bam found there were no mitigating circumstances to warrant a lesser sentence than life imprisonment. He said the aggravating circumstances in this case were overwhelming.
Spontaneous applause broke out in the gallery among members of child abuse action groups. Also in the gallery were Poppie’s paternal grandparents, Carla and Johan van der Merwe.
Dry-eyed Louisa and Kobus rushed from the dock to the holding cells in a bid to avoid the media. Neither showed any emotion during sentencing. And they didn’t apply for leave to appeal against their sentences.
Shortly before Judge Bam started the sentencing procedures, Louisa testified in mitigation of sentence. She wept as she told the court of her life as an abused child at the hands of her stepfather. The judge asked her if the court should adjourn so that she could compose herself.
Louisa said it wasn’t necessary, but her evidence was barely audible. Asked by her advocate whether she felt remorse after Poppie’s death, Louisa replied: “Yes, I have remorse. I am sorry that I could not help her, but I was not able to. I didn’t know what to do. Please believe me.”
But Judge Bam said neither her tears during her testimony, nor her tears yesterday, impressed him at all. “She regretted that she was arrested for the murder of her child. She has shown no remorse,” he said.
The judge remarked that it was difficult not to be emotionally affected by what had happened to Poppie, especially if one looked at the post-mortem pictures, which were presented as evidence. He said it was not easy to look at the pictures, but as an officer of the court, he had to adjudicate the case dispassionately.
Judge Bam earlier convicted Louisa and Kobus on the doctrine of common purpose.
They turned on each other and accused each other of inflicting the severe blow to the head which caused Poppie’s death.
But the judge said it did not make a difference who struck the final blow; the fact remained that Poppie and her brother, who was five at the time, had been severely abused over eight months in 2016.