A South African mother in the Eastern Cape mother has on Thursday been sentenced to 22 years behind bars for murdering her children.

The woman suffocated her two sons in September last year; they were one and six years old.

Before the murder, Busisiwe Labi told her older son she was going to kill him and his brother.

The child pleaded for their lives but the woman prayed and suffocated the boys with plastic bags.

She was found guilty in July.

The National Prosecuting Authority’s Anelisa Ngcakani said the State prosecutor asked that the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment be handed down.

“The presiding judge agreed that indeed the offences were horrific and that the crimes were planned. The judge, however, ruled that there were compelling circumstances present at the case for the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.”