Ellen Pakkies, a mother of three boys had a very difficult childhood, but nothing could prepare her for the abuse she would suffer at the hands of her last born child. It resulted in her killing him.

Michael Duffett from Face 2 Face Films, the company that produced Dangerous High: The Meth Explosion said: "It was a 10-minute story on Carte Blanche that gave birth to this documentary.

"We wanted her to tell her story so that the world could understand how a mother could kill her own."

Edward was a very helpful young man who loved dancing and spending time with his mother. But everything changed when he dedicated his life to a drug widely known in South Africa as tik - crystal methamphetamine.

Tik is a psychoactive stimulant that increases alertness and energy. If taken in high doses, it can induce euphoria, enhance self-esteem, and increase sexual desire and pleasure. Crystal meth is typically sold in straws, one of which costs between R15 and R30.

"Tik is very easy to produce and it makes one feel immortal," says specialist psychiatrist Dr Ian Lewis.

September 12 2007 was the day that changed the history of Lavender Hill in Cape Town. Earlier that morning, Pakkies had deliberately killed her son.

Pakkies was arrested after she turned herself in. When the prosecutor, Nina Meyer asked the court to find her guilty, Pakkies resigned herself to a life behind bars. "I was not worried about going to jail, but the court proceedings were nerve wracking," she says.

Pakkies' testimony moved the packed court to tears. She told the court how she had to have a security gate in her bedroom to stop her son stealing her clothes. Her husband even resorted to driving around with his clothes in the back of his car.

"I seldom slept and the officials were never available to help."

"At Edward's funeral she paid tribute to him. Her eulogy was moving," said Reverend Peter Flagg of the St Paul's Church in Lavender Hill who supported Pakkies throughout the trial.

She was sentenced to a three-year prison term suspended for three years and ordered to do 280 hours of community service. She now works as a judicial inspector of prisons at Pollsmoor Prison.

Pakkies feels she did all she could for her son, and that people need to "walk in another's shoes" before judging.

"I would never want to relive the past. If I was faced with the same situation I would simply just walk away," she says.

Catch the documentary tonight on the Crime and Investigation channel at 8.35pm