Wyebank murders: Family grateful father sentenced to life
The family of the four children who were murdered
by their father in Wyebank says although it wanted the death penalty for the
man, it is satisfied with the life sentences handed down.
Sibusiso Mpungose was slapped with four life imprisonment terms on Wednesday in the Pietermaritzburg High court.
The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to killing his children, aged four, six, ten and 16 in September this year. Three of the children's bodies were found in their Wyebank home, while his stepdaughter's body was found in New Germany.
In handing down sentence, Judge Sharmaine Balton described how Mpungose carried out his plan in September. Balton read out sections of his plea, about how he went to each school to pick up each child on the day of the murders.
Balton told Mpungose that she could not imagine what was going through the minds of the children who were strangled and hanged during their attack and how betrayed they must have felt.
READ: Wyebank father sentenced to four life terms in prison
Outside court, the children's aunty, Mthobisi Mlaba told reporters that the family are grateful that Mpungose was sentenced to life, even though it will not bring back their children.
"We are grateful that he got the life sentence, even though it's not going to bring back our kids, but that's the only thing that we can comfort ourselves with," she said.
She says the children's mother is struggling.
"She is struggling to cope as it is expected and she is being seen by psychologists," she said.
