The High Court in Johannesburg found that the man assaulted his two children at their Hillbrow flat for some time and the mother failed to report the abuse.
Picture: SAPS.
JOHANNESBURG – A Hillbrow father has been found guilty of murdering his son and the mother as an accessory in the High Court in Johannesburg.
The couple’s names cannot be mentioned to protect the identity of their surviving child, who was abused.
The court found that the father assaulted the children at their Hillbrow flat for some time and the mother failed to report the abuse.
He attacked them in 2018 in the absence of their mother, but the court found her to be complicit.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatleng found that over a period of two months, the children – aged five and eight – suffered abuse at the hands of their father.
The surviving child, a daughter, testified that in some instances they were beaten with a stick and fists.
The judge said despite the mother not being part of the abuse, she failed to protect her children.
He therefore found the father guilty of murder and the mother of being an accessory.
The father was also found guilty of attempted murder of the girl as well as child abuse.
The matter has been postponed to 29 October for sentencing.