The Johannesburg High Court acquitted a woman convicted of murder after a baby, who was carried on her grandmother's back, died when the grandmother was pushed to the ground
Image: File
The Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg ruled in favour of an accused who was convicted of murder of a baby aged five months, after the child, who was on her grandmother’s back, died of brain injuries when the grandmother was pushed, and she fell.
Aletta Sonzulu appealed her conviction as she maintained from the start that she had no intention of hurting the baby. She explained that on the day of the incident, she and her co-accused, Jamieson Phiri, were intoxicated. Sonzulu told the court that in fact, she was “wasted". She and Phiri, who had meanwhile died, were earlier convicted in the Vosloorus Regional Court following the death of little Jayden Motshalefa.
It was alleged by the State that she and Phiri pushed the grandmother whilst she was carrying the infant on her back. As a result, the grandmother fell on the ground with the infant still on her back. It was further alleged that Sonzulu, acting in common purpose with Phiri, continued to kick the grandmother.
The court was told that on the day of the incident, a graduation party was held at the house of the infant’s family. It was raining that day. The grandmother requested to speak to the gathering. She was carrying the infant on her back using a towel to support her. The infant’s head was covered with a blanket because it was raining.
As she was about to start speaking, Sonzulu created a disturbance by banging the table loudly, and the grandmother was forced to stop her speech. While the grandmother walked past the tables on her way to the house to put the baby to bed, she was pushed.
The grandmother slipped and fell backwards, as the surface was a carpet that was on the grass. The grandmother testified that she used both hands to break her fall so that the infant would not get hurt. Her evidence was that when she fell on the ground, Sonzulu kicked her randomly until the father of the infant intervened.
When the grandmother stood up, the baby was bleeding from her nose and mouth. She was taken to the clinic and then transferred to hospital. The baby died that evening of injuries to her brain.
This included extensive deep scalp bruising and bleeding of the brain. The injuries the infant suffered were consistent with an impact that resulted from the grandmother falling backwards onto the child she was carrying on her back.
Although testimony was led to the effect that she tried to break her fall by extending her arms backwards, the probabilities are that the infant sustained the fatal injury to her head when the fall occurred, the court said.
Judge Steven Kuny remarked that there was no fault on the part of the grandmother. “However, the reality is that in those circumstances it would have been difficult, once she fell backwards, to control her descent onto the ground. The infant was very vulnerable to any crushing force that would have arisen from the fall,” he said.
Judge Kuny added that while it's clear that Phiri was the one who pushed the grandmother, the State did not prove that Sonzulu actually struck any blows to the infant once the granny had fallen. “The rain in all probability would have made the carpet slippery. It was not established that the appellant knew that the infant was on the back of the child’s grandmother,” he said in acquitting her.