The family of Cuburné van Wyk will go to the murdered toddler's grave on Saturday after his killer was sent to prison for life on Friday. The sentence was handed down a day after the family marked a year since the three-year-old's disappearance.The boy's father‚ Elroy Petersen‚ said after court proceedings that the family could now begin to find closure.The parents of the three-year-old Reiger Park toddler, Cuburné van Wyk, at the murder trial of the man who killed their son at the South Gauteng High CourtCuburné's aunt‚ Lee-Anne Phillips‚ said they would go to the grave on Saturday.Nathaniel "Chicken" Mpoku‚ 26‚ was convicted on May 21 of kidnapping and murdering Cuburné.Nathaniel Mpoku was sentenced to life in prison for murder and 10 years for kidnappingOn August 6 last year he was seen luring Cuburné from the safety of a sports field in Ramaphosa Informal Settlement in Reiger Park‚ east of Johannesburg‚ after giving the child biscuits.Cuburné's burnt body was found three days later at a nearby mine dump. He had been strangled.Judge George Maluleke said he had tried to find a reason to show Mpoku mercy‚ but had found none.Mpoku was sentenced to life in prison for murder and 10 years for kidnapping. The sentences will run concurrently.Maluleke said the aggravating circumstances in Mpoku's case far outweighed the few mitigating circumstances and that there were no substantial reasons to persuade the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life in prison for the murder‚ which had been pre-meditated.Mpoku chose not to testify or lead any evidence in mitigation of sentence."He himself realises that there is nothing he can say to mitigate the gravity of the offences‚" Maluleke said.The judge said Mpoku "displays a lack of maturity and insight" and that he had taken no responsibility and shown no remorse for his actions. This‚ he found‚ showed little chance of successful rehabilitation.Maluleke said the attack on Cuburné was reminiscent of Satanic ritual killings and that he agreed with clinical psychologist Professor Gerard Labuschagne‚ who testified last week‚ that the motive for the kidnapping and murder may have been sexual assault.The mother of the three-year-old Reiger Park toddler, Cuburné van Wyk, at the murder trial of the man who killed their son at the South Gauteng High CourtThe nature of the "gruesome‚ heartless strangulation and setting alight [of Cuburné]" was only one of the aggravating circumstances Maluleke considered in determining Mpoku's sentence.He also considered Mpoku's previous criminal history and the fact that he was on parole when he kidnapped and attacked Cuburné.Mpoku has three previous convictions‚ two of theft and one of housebreaking.Maluleke also found that Mpoku had not spent a long time awaiting trial and thus did not deserve a lesser sentence.Defence advocate Lumka Qoqo said Mpoku would apply for leave to appeal his sentence and conviction. - TMG Courts and Law, RDM News Wire..