Killer dad gets life term
Beat 14-month-old daughter until she was brain dead
A YOUNG father from Khayelitsha has been sentenced to life imprisonment for beating his 14-month-old daughter until she was brain dead and died.
Ntuthuzelo Mayekiso, 25, claimed he had used buttons, tik and dagga when he beat little Lindokuhle Kota, leaving her with severe internal and external injuries, including a brain injury, blood in her eyes and lungs, a cracked spine, and wounds on various parts of her body.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said throughout the trial Mayekiso refused to take responsibility for what he had done, and blamed the baby’s mother instead.
The child’s mother said she left Lindokuhle with Mayekiso to allow for them to bond.
During cross-examination, Mayekiso said: “Had she not dumped the child with me on the 29th of April, I would not have ended up here.”
Mayekiso is a serial repeat offender, having committed his first rape and murder when he was only 14 years old.
In addition to that, his conviction roll, that runs from 2007 until 2015, includes rape, murder, theft, possession of stolen property and damage to property.
He was released from prison in February last year, a mere three months before he brutally killed his daughter.
Ntabazalila said the law dictates that a first offender for murder must be sentenced to a period of no less than 15 years.
A second offender must be sentenced to an imprisonment period of no less than 20 years.
State advocate Nokuzola Mbewana argued that due to the seriousness and brutality of the crimes, it would be an injustice to sentence Mayekiso to less than life imprisonment.
“It does not seem any of the sentences previously imposed assisted the accused to rehabilitate as he re-offended. The State submits that the accused is a candidate to be removed from society permanently.
“The court as the upper guardian of children must send a clear message to offenders and would-be offenders. The State submits that life imprisonment will be an appropriate sentence,” Mbewana argued.
The NPA and police have welcomed the life imprisonment sentence.
Ntabazalila said: “The NPA welcomes this sentence as it successfully argued for the court to go beyond the prescribed minimum sentence and ensure a harsher sentence was handed down to the accused.”
Provincial police commissioner Kombinkosi Jula said Lingelethu police were called to the hospital by Lindokuhle’s grandmother.
“Thorough investigation by the detective on the case, Sergeant Lungisa Nomdatya, it led to the sentencing of the accused today at the Cape High Court, to a lengthy sentence of life imprisonment.”