Johannesburg - A 30-year-old man appeared in the Mkhuhlu Magistrate’s Court on Friday in connection with the murder of his 12-year-old daughter, Mpumalanga police said.
"It is alleged that on Tuesday the suspect brutally assaulted his 12-year-old daughter after she had apparently slept out for a period of three days," spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said.
"The following day her parents noticed that she was unresponsive as they were trying to wake her up to get ready for school. She was then rushed to hospital, where she was declared dead upon arrival.
"It was there that the suspect allegedly admitted to having brutally assaulted her, he then handed himself over to the police."
Hlathi said that he appeared on a charge of murder after he handed himself over to the police on Wednesday.
The police spokesperson said the man was remanded in custody and the case was postponed to 30 July for a formal bail application.
"The management of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, condemn in the strongest possible terms acts of abuse by parents, guardians, caretakers or anybody else for that matter, as this has far-reaching implications."