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- A former attorney was out on parole for murder and attempted murder when he killed his four children.
- Before killing the children, Lucas Phasha posted messages on Facebook in which he claimed his wife had cheated on him and said she would never see the children again.
- Judge Gerrit Muller found that the 52-year-old was not a candidate for rehabilitation.
Former attorney Lucas Phasha, who killed his four young children after a fallout with their mother, was sentenced to four life imprisonment in the Polokwane High Court in Limpopo on Friday.
Phasha, 52, was on parole for different murder and attempted murder cases when he killed his children. An axe was used to kill three of the children and a rock was used to kill the youngest.
It was against this background that Judge Gerrit Muller found that Phasha was not a candidate for rehabilitation.
Muller said:
Phasha was arrested in Lebowakgomo while on the run after killing the children - Katlego, 9; Joyce, 7; Tshepo, 5; and Adel 3 - in Ga-Phasha village in the Sekhukhune district on 17 February 2021.
READ | Woman denies she had spent the night with a former attorney when he allegedly killed his 4 kids
Before the murders, he claimed on Facebook that his wife, Sylvia Monyela, had cheated on him and said she would never see the children again.
But, in his evidence-in-chief, Phasha claimed that a Nelson Phasha had framed him after a fierce disagreement over chieftainship and mining development in the village. He also claimed the children might have been killed by a businessman of Indian descent who he was at loggerheads with over a business transaction.
READ | Former attorney 'confessed' to nephew why he killed his children, court hears
After the sentencing, his wife told the media that she felt happy about the outcome of the case.
"I'm very happy about the judgment and the fact that I won't see him for the rest of his life. I'm so happy I don't even know what to say. Let him go.
"Even though he denied his actions, the court has found that he killed my children," the wife said.
When asked whether he would ask for forgiveness from his wife, Phasha said: "She said she doesn't want it. I can't force it."
