Emotions ran high as a young mother from Stellenbosch, who smothered her seven-year-old stepdaughter with a pillow, was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in prison.(from IOL)Western Cape High Court Judge Dennis van Reenen found no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for unpremeditated murder. Catherine Felix, 25, herself a mother of a two-year-old son, suffocated Brudescia van Staden, her ex-husband Ronald van Staden's daughter from a previous relationship, at his home in Idas Valley in December, 2006.
She apparently killed the girl after her husband left her and found a new girlfriend.
After her very unhappy childhood she considered her husband a ticket to security, but this was "dashed on the rocks of his perceived or real infidelity". She was also pregnant at the time, and her son would be deprived of a relationship with her if she was imprisoned for a long period.
Judge Van Reenen said he realised Felix's life "was one sad event after another", having alcoholic parents, allegedly being sexually abused by her father and after his death being abandoned by her mother."Unfortunately, that can't be fixed. It is really a sad indictment on society," he said. (None of that "Society needs to take responsibility" nonsense like in the next story. Smoking cannabis still hasn't produced a body, but this story has. I know it's a bit of a stretch, but it makes for a good comparison with the Ellen Pakkies story)
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