Mozambican Woman Sentenced to 23 Years for Killing Stepdaughter.

Clara Masinga at the High Cout in in Mbombela:  Masinga pleaded guilty to premeditated murder and was convicted accordingly. Picture: X

Maleka Charles

Clara Masinga (37), originally from Mozambique, was on Wednesday, sentenced to 23 years in prison for the murder of her 11-year-old stepdaughter, Jennifer Gumbi at the Magistrate High court in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.  

Apparently Masinga and her accomplice poisoned Jennifer's ice cream with rattex to spite her mother before they could desecrate her body with boiled water, and then later dumped her in a shallow ditch near the Mlumati River. 

"Masinga killed an innocent child out of animosity toward the mother, adding that no sentence could ever restore the lost life." Judge Vukeya said.

Masinga admitted that her actions were unlawful and punishable by law. She entered into a Section 105A plea and sentence agreement with the State, which was accepted, and In her plea statement, she confessed that her motive for the killing was to spite the victim’s biological mother. 

However, the court found that compelling circumstances existed to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence and consequently imposed 23 years’ direct imprisonment. Masinga was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

Judge Vukeya strongly condemned the rise in domestic violence and the killing of women and children in South Africa.