An Eastern Cape man was jailed for 20 years on Friday for killing his five-year-old stepdaughter.
Handing down sentence, Grahamstown High Court Judge Bonisile Sandi said: ”The extreme viciousness of the assault on the totally helpless little girl leaves me in no doubt that the accused intended to kill her.”
John Brown (33), of Old Location, Middelburg, had admitted to assaulting Asiba Tshoba, but denied causing her death on June 9 or 10 last year.
Sandi said the girl died as a result of a brain haemorrhage.
The state says the girl was beaten with a garden spade that was later found, broken in half, by the girl’s mother.
Summarising the trial evidence, Sandi said a police officer had seen Brown knock the girl to the ground shortly before she was murdered.
The motive for the murder was anger at the girl’s mother after the accused said he saw her kissing another man in a tavern, the judge concluded. — Sapa