A Durban father accused of beating his six-year-old daughter to death with a belt pleaded guilty to the charge in the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday.
Looking remorseful and much older than his said age, Raveendran Pillay (32) pleaded guilty to culpable homicide in a plea agreement. He further agreed to a 10-year prison sentence, of which five years would be suspended.
Pillay’s daughter, Nikita Ellappen Pillay, was beaten with a belt when she returned home from school with dirty clothes on March 15 2006.
Post-mortem results later revealed that Nikita had suffered long-term abuse.
The story made national headlines and prompted a public outcry against child abusers in the Chatsworth community.
Nearly 24 hours after Nikita’s death, Pillay and his common-law wife, Shanaaz Shaik, were arrested at their Chatsworth flat for murder.
Shaik gave birth to a second baby a few months later, but it died in hospital.
The court later withdrew its charges against Shaik on humanitarian grounds. The charge against Pillay was amended to culpable homicide and he was later released on bail.
In the plea agreement, Pillay confirmed that he had hit Nikita in the stomach.
Reading the agreement, state prosecutor Blackie Swart said Pillay had also ”failed/refused to act immediately in seeking medical attention”, which resulted in Nikita’s death.
The court heard that Pillay was not allowed to attend his daughter’s funeral and also lost his job at LR Plastics.
”Since the accused’s arrest and wide-scale media attention, the accused became a symbol of ridicule by the public … and had to relocate from his home in Chatsworth to Phoenix, a suburb 40km away,” Swart read.
The court heard that Pillay also had two other children from a previous marriage and that his ex-wife had since died, making him the sole supporter of the children.
According to the mitigating factors presented in the plea agreement, Pillay was employed casually, earning an average monthly salary of R1 500 and had an alcohol and drug abuse problem.
He said he had been attending a voluntary rehabilitation centre and was being helped by religious groups to deal with the problem.
Pillay confirmed that he had two previous convictions, a drug-related case and assault.
Magistrate Val Laue said Pillay would be sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, five years of which were suspended on condition that he was not convicted on similar charges or offences — relating to violence or threat of the use of violence.
Laue said the court was satisfied that the sentence and the agreement were just.
Asked outside court what would happen to Pillay’s two children, his attorney, Daniel Vengtas, said social welfare was dealing with that. — Sapa