Mother admits she drowned her 3 children

A YOUNG mother accused of killing her three children by drowning them in a well in the Eenhana district almost a year ago pleaded guilty to three charges of murder in the High Court at Oshakati yesterday.

He decision to kill her own children was triggered when the children’s father abandoned her and the children after she had been diagnosed with a serious illness, Saima Nghiholemote Hangula told Judge Muller in a written plea explanation. “I know I have sinned by taking three innocent lives but at the time I thought it was better for all of us to go,” the 30-year-old Hangula stated at the end of the plea explanation.Hangula was 29 years old on May 10 last year, when – so it is alleged in the indictment that she faced before Judge Muller at a circuit session of the High Court at Oshakati yesterday – she threw her three children into a well at Eexwa-Ohehonge village in the Eenhana district.The three children were Hangula’s nine-year-old daughter, Emilia Popyeinawa Isai, her four-year-old son, Paulus Shongela, and her baby son, Frans Kashivulu Johannes, who was four months old.All three children drowned.In the plea that defence lawyer Frieda Kishi handed to the Judge, Hangula admitted that she took her children’s lives, that she knew that they would die in the well, and that what she did was wrong and that she could be punished for it.”The father of my children has deserted me,” Hangula said in the plea explanation.”Even when I was hospitalised he did not bother to visit me.He did not take care of the kids and the kids were suffering.”She related that she had been diagnosed with a serious illness, for which she is receiving treatment.The situation that she was in made her lose all hope, and so she decided to take her children with herself out of this life, she indicated: “All these circumstances made me depressed and made me decide to take my life and that of my kids.I decided this because I felt I could not leave my kids behind as they are already suffering.”She described the killings: “I first walked the kids into the water, where they drowned and I attempted to kill myself but the water was too shallow.”Hangula’s statement ended with an expression of remorse and a call for mercy: “I am very remorseful for what I did and am begging for mercy from the court, society and almighty God.I know I have sinned by taking three innocent lives but at the time I thought it was better for all of us to go.”Judge Muller convicted Hangula on three counts of murder after he had heard her plea and the explanation.Hangula is scheduled to return to court on Friday next week, when Judge Muller is set to hear evidence that both Kishi and Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs want to present to the court before Hangula is sentenced.Hangula remains in custody in the meantime.”I know I have sinned by taking three innocent lives but at the time I thought it was better for all of us to go,” the 30-year-old Hangula stated at the end of the plea explanation.Hangula was 29 years old on May 10 last year, when – so it is alleged in the indictment that she faced before Judge Muller at a circuit session of the High Court at Oshakati yesterday – she threw her three children into a well at Eexwa-Ohehonge village in the Eenhana district.The three children were Hangula’s nine-year-old daughter, Emilia Popyeinawa Isai, her four-year-old son, Paulus Shongela, and her baby son, Frans Kashivulu Johannes, who was four months old.All three children drowned.In the plea that defence lawyer Frieda Kishi handed to the Judge, Hangula admitted that she took her children’s lives, that she knew that they would die in the well, and that what she did was wrong and that she could be punished for it.”The father of my children has deserted me,” Hangula said in the plea explanation.”Even when I was hospitalised he did not bother to visit me.He did not take care of the kids and the kids were suffering.”She related that she had been diagnosed with a serious illness, for which she is receiving treatment. The situation that she was in made her lose all hope, and so she decided to take her children with herself out of this life, she indicated: “All these circumstances made me depressed and made me decide to take my life and that of my kids.I decided this because I felt I could not leave my kids behind as they are already suffering.”She described the killings: “I first walked the kids into the water, where they drowned and I attempted to kill myself but the water was too shallow.”Hangula’s statement ended with an expression of remorse and a call for mercy: “I am very remorseful for what I did and am begging for mercy from the court, society and almighty God.I know I have sinned by taking three innocent lives but at the time I thought it was better for all of us to go.”Judge Muller convicted Hangula on three counts of murder after he had heard her plea and the explanation.Hangula is scheduled to return to court on Friday next week, when Judge Muller is set to hear evidence that both Kishi and Deputy Prosecutor General Heidi Jacobs want to present to the court before Hangula is sentenced.Hangula remains in custody in the meantime.