20 years for killing girl, 5

A 30-year-old North West man who bashed his girlfriend’s fiveyear-old daughter to death after she repeatedly wet herself, has been jailed for 20 years.

Acting Judge JJ Strijdom, sitting in the High Court in Klerksdorp, sentenced Tseko Seekoei of Bloemhof for the December 2015 murder of his girlfriend Dimakatso Kodisang’s daughter, Kutlwano.

He claims that he had not foreseen the girl’s death when he repeatedly hit her with a belt and shoe, tied her up and made her stand on one leg for hours. According to Seekoei, he had noticed that the child was ill-disciplined and had a tendency to urinate and befoul herself, which did not seem to bother her mother.

He had slapped the child on the buttocks when he realised she had wet the couch on which she was sleeping, but when she later wet herself again, lost his temper and started hitting her with his belt all over her body. He also started hitting her on her head with her mother’s shoe. When his girlfriend tried to stop him, Seekoei pushed her away and slapped her.

According to Seekoei he then decided to punish little Kultwano by making her stand on one leg. He then tied her hands and one of her legs to the kitchen unit drawer and made her stand on one leg, but untied her and let her change legs when she became tired.

He later untied her and they went to bed. The child was “crying softly and breathed a bit heavier”, but he thought she was angry and tired and did not take it seriously.

His girlfriend woke him in the early hours of the morning to tell him she could not wake her daughter.