THE ULTIMATE SPITEFULNESS: Murdering a partner's children.

When 20-year-old Nancy told 25-year-old Hendrick Stander that she was no longer interested in a relationship with him, he became enraged. Seeking to inflict harm upon her, he took drastic action. On 15 October 2021, he went to her home and took his three-year-old son. Upon returning to his home in Bloemside, near Bloemfontein, he directed his anger and feelings of rejection towards the toddler. In the process, he strangled the boy to death, concealed his body in plastic and hid his body beneath a bed in his house. When Hendrick failed to return their child to his mother on 17 October 2021, she called in the help of family members to fetch her son from his father. They then made the gruesome discovery of the little one's lifeless body concealed under the bed. Hendrick was arrested and confessed to the heinous crime. In March 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to life behind bars (Kumalo, 2022). Hendrick is one of many parents who are unable to cope with rejection, who then resort to the unthinkable act of murdering their own children to "spite" their partner or former partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]