Durban — In January, when other parents are preparing for the new school year for their children, a mother whose son was killed allegedly by his father will be preparing to face him once again in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in hopes that the trial into her child’s murder finally gets under way.
Eight-year-old Sfundo Sibisi allegedly died at the hands of his father, Siyabonga Innocent Shezi, who is accused of assaulting the child in the Shongweni area in January this year.
Sfundo would have turned 9 in April and would be in Grade 3 at Umthala Primary School in KwaNdengezi.
The child’s mother, Nonhlanhla Sibisi, and Shezi had been separated for some time before the murder.
On Tuesday, Sibisi said that in January last year, she had to endure the pain of having had her son taken away while other parents shared exciting moments with their children in preparation for the new school year.
“I at least thought that I would have gotten the closure I needed by 2024, but yet again I have to prepare myself mentally and emotionally to live through the back-to-school period in anguish. It feels like I’m reliving the loss all over again to head into another January with no closure,” she said.
According to Sibisi, she had been at work on the day her son was killed and Shezi allegedly phoned her telling her that he had murdered their child.
Shezi allegedly told Sibisi to go and look for their son in the bushes in Shongweni before his body was fed upon by animals.
That was when Sibisi phoned her family in Shongweni Dam, asking them to go to the area, “and, indeed, they found my boy’s lifeless body”.
Shezi, who abandoned his bail application, is also charged with the assault of the mother of his son, Sibisi.
The trial court sat recently and adjourned the matter until January 30.
In March, it emerged in court that Shezi had handed in a confession and accompanied police on a “pointing out” exercise.
In June, the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated that Shezi was to be medically examined to ascertain his state of mind, and he was taken to RK Khan Hospital for such.
He was found to be coherent and logical and therefore set to stand trial directly.
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Daily News