A Gqeberha man who lost his job in 2019 told the Port Elizabeth High Court how it made him suicidal and resulted in him brutally killing a toddler, whom he believed was his biological son.
The 27-year-old Duwayne Krige confessed in court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to kidnapping and beating a child to death.
A spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority Anelisa Ngcakani says on the morning of 5 August 2019 Krige visited his grandmother who was taking care of the 2-year-old Juliano Gallant.
She says Krige wanted to commit suicide and thought it would be better to kill the child first as he believed his death would have a dire consequence on the life of the child.
Ngcakani says that morning Krige kidnapped the child and took him to a bushy area where he assaulted him to death.
He then tried to kill himself by tying a rope to a tree but changed his mind.
Krige then decided to take Gallant to Livingstone hospital and approached a few strangers on his way showing them the child's body asking if he was dead or alive.
Upon his arrival at Livingstone, he lied to medical staff by telling them that the child had fallen off a bunk-bed and left him there.
The post mortem revealed that Gallant died due to blunt force trauma to the head and body.
The High Court is expected to arrange a date for sentencing on Thursday.
