A mother who killed her nine-year-old son by setting him on fire as punishment for smoking has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Noluthando Nomavayi , 37, from Delft in Cape Town drenched her two sons with paraffin and set them alight when she discovered them smoking cigarettes in May 2011.

The older son survived the vicious attack but the younger one suffered 90 per cent burns and died at the Red Cross Hospital in Cape Town six weeks later

Judge Vincent Saldanha said: ‘[The deceased] and his brother were much-loved and spent most of their time playing soccer in the confines of the family home.’

He lamented that Nomavayi’s nine-year-old son’s dream of becoming a doctor had been dashed.