Lifeless body of a 2 years old daughter found in a ceiling

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A 48 years old man got sentenced to seven years in prison for the murder of his two years old toddler.

The High Court in the North West sitting at Klerksdorp Regional Court heard how Mokete Legodi went to take his daughter from her maternal family as the mother was admitted in hospital.

He took her from his girlfriend’s home at extension 20, in Joubert on May 13th.

This is according to NPA Spokesperson Henry Mamomthame who said that the family did not suspect any malice from Legodi, taking into consideration that he is the father and had taken the child and returned her before without any quarrel.

“The family members who were taking care of the child assumed he would bring her back as he usually did, but later upon inquiry, he denied taking the child. On 14 May 2021, when the mother got discharged from the hospital, she went searching for the baby with the help of family members, but they could not find her.”

Failing to locate the child, the mother went to the local police station to open a case of missing persons and Legodi was arrested two days later, on the 16th for questioning.

He was charged with kidnapping, after failing to tell the police about the child’s whereabouts.

A day later police were summoned to Legodi’s home to complain about a bad smell coming from the house.

In his defense, Legodi said he was drunk at the time he was with the child, she fell and out of panic he decided to rather hide the corpse instead of reporting the incident.

The lifeless body of the toddler was found in the ceiling of his residential home in Alabama, near Klerksdorp.

He was sentenced to seven years of direct imprisonment for the death of his two-year-old, the court sentenced him to six years for culpable homicide and four years for deafening the ends of justice.