A 12-year-old boy was drowned in a bath of boiling water by robbers who raped his mother before killing both his parents in a violent house robbery.
Three men broke into the family's home in Walkerville, Johannesburg, where they assaulted and shot dead Tony Viana, 53, and brutally raped and killed his wife, Geraldine.
They then tied up and gagged the sobbing boy, Amaro, and pushed him into a bath of boiling hot water to drown him, 'because he would be able to identify them'.
The family’s gardener, Patrick Petrus Radebe, 24, their domestic servant’s son, Sipho Mbele, 21, pleaded guilty to three charges of murder and one charge of rape each, reported Sowetan Live.
David Motaung, 20, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to robbery charges.
They then left the South African court and walked back their cells laughing, according to Beeld newspaper.
The family dog was killed by having his stomach cut open.
The men’s lawyer told Vereeniging Regional Court that they had broken into the house to steal and to get revenge for the way they had been treated by 42-year-old Mrs Viana, their employer.
The court heard that Mr Viana arrived home at the house to be attacked with a golf club and a machete-like 'panga' and ordered to open the family's safe.
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