BETHLEHEM WOMAN SENTENCED FOR KILLING HUSBAND, TWO CHILDREN.
BLOEMFONTEIN:
The High Court of South Africa: Free State Division sitting in Harrismith,
has sentenced a 31-year-old woman for three counts of murder and one count of attempted
murder. Judge Pitso Molitsoane sentenced Mamphepi Alina Mokoena for murders of her
husband, Sofra Frans Pamplin (49) and two daughters, Mamsy Portia Pamplin (14) and
Meikie Mokoena (10). She was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment for each of the three
counts of murder and additional 10 years
imprisonment for an attempted murder of the third daughter, Lerato Aletta Mokoena (11).
In her plea agreement, Mokoena, from Farm Tokka in the district
of Bethlehem, said that their marriage was volatile as she endured abuse from her husband. She went to town on 17 June 2022 to buy a poison known as Temic, and told her sister,
who was with her, that she was buying it to poison rats at their house.
In the early morning of 22 June 2022, five days after buying the poison, she prepared food
for the family for breakfast. She poured the sachet of poison into a pot of beans soup and served the three children before they went to school. The husband took some of the poisoned soup to work for his lunch. Mokoena took some of the soup along to work with the intention of eating it, but she did not get a chance to eat the soup because her sister was present.
Mokoena was called by the teachers at school after the three children were transported to
the clinic, following their fainting. Portia and Meikie passed on at the clinic and Lerato was admitted to the ICU section of the Pherong District Hospital, where she recovered. The husband also fell ill at work, and he was rushed to Dihlabeng Regional
Hospital, but he too, died due to the intake of the said poisoned soup.
The State Prosecutor, Advocate Dansi Mpemvane, requested the court to impose a hefty term of direct imprisonment on the accused because, “the interest of the society and the families of the deceased demand that such crimes be given a fitting punishment to deter others from committing such offences and to punish the accused for her actions”.
Mokoeana will effectively serve 28 years in prison after Judge Molitsoane ordered the
sentences to run concurrently. The NPA applauds Warrant Officer Nkosana Radebe, from Bethlehem Detectives, for thorough investigation that led to the conviction of the accused.
