Baby Daniel: Mom sentenced to 20 years behind bars

Baby Daniel: Mom sentenced to 20 years behind bars

The High Court in Johannesburg has sentenced the mother of Baby Daniel to 20 years behind bars after she was convicted on two counts of child abuse.

baby feet Breakfast
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Her boyfriend was handed a life sentence on Wednesday after he was earlier convicted of the 3-year-old’s murder.

The mom was sentenced to 10 years for neglect and 15 years for abuse, with five years running concurrently.

Women and Men against Child Abuse’s Ngaa Murombedzi has welcomed the sentence.

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"Let's start with the fact that it's finally done. That brings is satisfaction because the sentence handed down today was comprehensive in that it took into account the need for justice for a baby who was violated and murdered by people to whom he looked for care and protection."

Murombedzi says she hopes the sentence will serve as a deterrent to abusive parents.

"We were asking for nothing less than the maximum possible sentence, that the judge was able to comprehensively hand that down is something that as an organisation we look upon as setting a very good precedence to deter anybody else who can think or does think that it is okay to abuse a child, murder a child, lie to the court, plead that you're the victim and then still don't want to have justice for your child. In terms of that we do applaud the judge for a giving a fair but very serious sentence to both accused."

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Baby Daniel suffered a broken elbow, broken femur, injured ribs and second degree burns to 60% of his body.

The convicted pair claimed that the injuries were due to Daniel falling into a bathtub filled with hot water and that he was found dead the next day.

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