Double joy for former murder suspect

Mpho Mokwape | Thursday April 10, 2014 11:02

 

She appeared before Justice Michael Mothobi of the High Court on Tuesday where she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.

She was freed after the court convicted and sentenced her to a five-month jail term to run from the time she was incarcerated. The sentence effectively set her free as she had already served the five months before she was granted bail.

During mitigation, defence lawyer, Archibald Gijima asked the court to be lenient as Madziba had already shown remorse by pleading guilty and had indicated that she was ready to face any sentence the court found fit.

He said since Madziba was facing a sentence that could see her spend up to two years in jail or a fine, the court should consider a lenient sentence as she has young children who depend on her. Gijima said the young children would be emotionally and financially stressed if their mother was incarcerated.

The defence lawyer also asked the court to consider that Madziba had not intended to conceal the birth as she had followed the maternal procedures by even registering with the health facilities for check-ups and monitoring.

He said the day she gave birth, Madziba had initially intended to seek medical help but matters progressed so quickly as labour pains intensified while she was taking a bath, forcing her to deliver alone.

When delivering sentence, Mothobi said he had taken into consideration circumstances surrounding the case but stressed that justice had to prevail.

He said Madziba had to realise that she denied another human being a chance to live, stressing that this on its own is a crime.

He said while Madziba had experience in child birth, the state that she was in during the incident in question could have led to her accidentally causing the baby’s death.

In the original charge sheet, she was alleged to have given birth to a baby then disposed of it without anyone’s knowledge after realising that it had died due to loss of blood.