A MIXED race man has been jailed 30 years for the brutal murder of his son under pressure from family members who did not approve his relationship with the toddler’s black mother.
Peterson Maurice Elderman (36) from Bulawayo’s Queens Park East was lucky to escape the death penalty after Justice Lawrence Kamocha considered in mitigation the psychological pressure he came under from members of his family, in particular his mother.
He had pleaded not guilty but the court convicted him for the “premeditated callous and brutal murder of an innocent child” with actual intent.
“You have escaped the capital punishment and the court was tempted to give you a life imprisonment but just because of the extenuating circumstances the court will given you a very lengthy prison term,” Justice Kamocha told him.
The court heard that on the fateful day in March 2007, Elderman and his relatives had a family gathering at Bulawayo’s Richmond area where his partner was also invited.
In the evening, around 6pm, Elderman is said to have taken his son from the mother and left the house for about two hours.
He later came back holding the baby in his arms but remained outside in the dark. When his partner pleaded with him to bring the baby into the house since it was cold he instead went and sat in a vehicle.
The mother of the child joined him and noticed that the baby was breathing heavily and with some difficulties.
She tried to take the child but Elderman refused and claimed that the heavy breathing was due to a ‘few sips of alcohol’ he had given him.
He later went to put the child to sleep in one of the bedrooms but when his partner went into the room to check after an hour she discovered that the baby was no longer breathing and its eyes were wide open.
They tried to resuscitate the child to no avail and finally rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The post mortem examination found that the baby had finger marks around the neck, over inflated lungs as well as multiple raptures of the liver.
The examination concluded that the cause of death was severe haemorrhagic shock and manual strangulation, liver traumatic raptures, callous murder adding that “severe force” had been used.