Tonga -
An Mpumalanga teen mother accused of strangling her 18-month-old daughter will wait for a high court decision on whether her trial should be heard in the lower or high court.
Nomcebo Mahlalela, 18, of Tsambokhulu Trust near Komatipoort, was not asked to plead to a charge of murder when appearing in the Tonga Magistrate’s Court on Monday, a Sapa correspondent reported.
Prosecutor Frederick Mhelembe asked the court to postpone the matter to October for a high court decision. Magistrate Hazel Khoza extended Mahlalela's R1 000 bail and postponed the case to October 1.
Mahlalela, a Grade 11 pupil at Lebombo High School, was arrested on May 16 after residents grew suspicious when seeing her without her toddler.
It was later found that the child had been strangled and dumped near the Swaziland border. The motive was not known. - Sapa