Eugene Botha breaks down in court, apologises for killing his parents & sister
Eugene Botha has been convicted of killing his mother, Marrie, his father Johannes and his sister Soné at their Rondebult home.
Eugene Botha, who is accused of killing three family members at their Germiston home in 2024, appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on 21 January 2025. Picture: Sphamandla Dlamini/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - A Germiston man convicted of killing his parents and sister broke down in court on Tuesday and apologised to his last remaining sibling.
Eugene Botha was convicted of killing his mother, Marrie, his father, Johannes, and his sister, Soné, at their Rondebult home.
READ: Eugene Botha convicted for the murder of his parents, sister
Post-mortem results show Eugene killed all of them by hitting them several times on the head with a hammer.
Eugene appeared at the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday where he entered into a guilty plea.
In a violent fit of rage, Eugene Botha killed his mother, sister and father within minutes of each other.
Eugene took the witness stand on Tuesday to argue in mitigation of his sentence.
His last remaining sibling and older brother, Jean Botha, watched on from the court gallery.
Eugene said he regretted his actions.
"I would like to tell the court, I apologise for what I did, I know it was wrong, it wasn’t supposed to happen. I apologise for my actions, it wasn’t right and I’m sorry."
Arguments in mitigation and aggravation of the sentence will go ahead on Wednesday.
[UPDATE] Eugene Botha (43) has officially been convicted of killing Marrie (mother), Soné (sister) and Johannes (father).
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) January 21, 2025
Eugene said he killed his mother and sister by hitting them with a hammer several times on the head. While he shot his father on the head with a gun. TCG pic.twitter.com/wlDs75zz3Z