Pietermaritzburg - A man confessed in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday that he strangled his former lover's seven-year-old daughter.
Elias Mcwango, 53, from Mozambique, said he killed the child in anger after the girl's mother stayed away from him for 12 days. He testified that he had been drinking at the time.
Mcwango admitted to Judge Fikilie Makgohloa that he buried the child's body near Vryheid on September 22.
The body was not found, despite searches, including those undertaken by the police.
When Mcwango returned to Mozambique, he told his former lover, Tholi Dlamini, in a telephone conversation that he would return to Vryheid to show her where he had buried the child.
Dlamini contacted the police, who arrested Mcwango in Johannesburg on November 22.
After he pleaded guilty he was convicted, and will be sentenced on Thursday.
Sapa