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A MOTHER who killed her baby son near the end of 2019 by inflicting fatal head injuries on him received a 28-year prison term with her sentencing in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.

“This court has to speak up for the children whose voices have been silenced by their irresponsible and callous parents,” judge Claudia Claasen remarked during the sentencing of Pricilla Stuurman (30), who has been convicted of murder in connection with the death of her six-month-old son, Stiaan Cidio Stuurman, on 24 December 2019.

The rules of society are undermined when a parent murders an innocent and defenceless child, Claasen said.

She added that in such instances, the courts have to protect the interests of society: “It has to intercede and stop this horrendous phenomenon.”

Claasen found Stuurman guilty of murder three weeks ago.

Stuurman was charged after her son died in a hospital at Karasburg. He died a day after he had sustained head injuries when he was thrown to the floor of the house where Stuurman was living as Aussenkehr in the //Kharas region, and Stuurman also hit his head against the floor several times.

During Stuurman’s trial, a medical doctor who carried out an autopsy on the baby’s body testified that his skull had been fractured in three places. He said in his opinion a single fall to the ground from his mother’s arms would not have caused the three skull fractures.

Stuurman claimed her baby had fallen from her arms when she stumbled after she had stood up with him to go outside to smoke a cigarette. She denied that she had ever mistreated her son or threatened to kill him.

Claasen noted during the sentencing that the court was told baby Stiaan’s father rejected Stuurman when she discovered she was pregnant with his child. The father also did not accept any parental responsibilities for his son.

That caused Stuurman a lot of pain and frustration, the judge recounted.

According to Stuurman, she took out her frustrations on her son after she had been drinking.

She also contemplated killing her son, expressed her intention to kill him on more than one occasion, and two weeks before the fatal incident severely beat him, leaving him with swollen eyes, the court heard.

“It is clear to this court that she engaged in a repertoire of cruelty and violence, which is a disgrace to motherhood,” Claasen commented.

She said she agreed with state advocate Taodago Gaweseb’s description of the killing as “a callous and cold-blooded murder”.

Sentencing Stuurman was not an easy task and it weighed heavily with the court that she is also the mother of three daughters, who face being without their mother for a long time, Claasen said.

However, a lengthy prison term could not be avoided, she continued, before sentencing Stuurman to 28 years’ imprisonment. No part of the sentence was suspended.

Defence lawyer Milton Engelbrecht, instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid, represented Stuurman during her trial.