'I understand I did wrong', says mechanic who killed toddler son

A mechanic who killed his three-year-old son asked a judge of the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday to be lenient when sentencing him.

"I understand I did wrong. I just ask for your leniency," mechanic Vincent Mugwagwa said in court.

"The law is going its course because I did wrong."

The 53-year-old Zimbabwean was speaking ahead of judge Nico Coetzee sentencing him.

Coetzee said Mugwagwa showed remorse and had acted in a rage.

Earlier, the court heard Mugwagwa was an illegal immigrant and would be deported to Zimbabwe if sentenced to correctional supervision.

Mugwagwa asked the court if he could be deported to renew his documents and then serve his sentence.

"I thought maybe if it is possible, deport me to renew my permit," he said.

However, Coetzee said it was not possible, and because of the seriousness of the crime he would need to be sentenced appropriately.

"It's a pity that you are an illegal immigrant. If you were not an illegal immigrant I would have sentenced you to correctional supervision, but now you will be deported," Coetzee said.

Mugwagwa earlier told the court he came to the country after losing his job in Zimbabwe in 2010. His wife and four of their nine children later joined him. The other five are still in Zimbabwe.

Last June his wife accused him of being unfaithful. He chased her and the children out of the house, and followed them to a neighbour's house. There he took a pick-axe handle and hit and killed his youngest child Wesley.

"I don't know how it happened. I did not believe it when they told me I was going to be arrested... I don't have an explanation for what I did that day," he said.