Cape Town - A Cape Flats mother who is under investigation for the deaths of two of her children says she is innocent.
Shakiera Scott, who is facing a charge of murder for her one-year-old daughter Asheeqah who was beaten to death three years ago, says she didn’t kill her two-month-old baby, who died two weeks ago.
According to the 30-year-old mother of three, her baby Zarah died of cot death.
Scott also has a seven-year-old daughter who lives with her dad’s family.
Police have confirmed that they are investigating after an inquest into the baby’s death was opened.
Scott made an appearance at the Bellville Magistrates’ Court on Monday for Asheeqah’s murder, where she was informed that the matter is being moved to the Parow Regional Court for trial, starting on 19 November.
Scott was arrested and charged in September, nine months after her former boyfriend, Pieter van Tonder, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for the toddler’s death.
Van Tonder entered into a plea agreement with the state, where he admitted to killing the tot, at his Delft home in September 2016.
He said Scott asked him to look after Asheeqah and he assaulted the child while he smoked a joint and burnt her lips with it.
Last week the Daily Voice revealed baby Zarah died under mysterious circumstances.
According to police, Scott claimed she took her baby to the Delft Day Hospital on 21 September after she tried to breastfeed her and disco- vered she was not breathing.
But a source close to the family told the Daily Voice: “On the day of the janaazah, Shakiera told everyone that when they woke up, the baby was not breathing. How could she then claim that she tried to breastfeed the child?”
Speaking outside court on Monday, Scott said Zarah was a healthy baby, but had been sick a day before her death.
“It was cot death and she died in her sleep,” she said, accompanied by her mother-in-law, identified only as Joan.
“I cannot rest, this is my second child I have lost.
“I did nothing to the baby, so why must I run away?
“When the baby was born, she went for a scan and there was a white dot on her heart and we thought she would be disabled, but she was OK.
“A day before her death, she had the flu. I took her the Thursday to the hospital because she was coughing.
“The Friday morning before she went to sleep again, I still had her in my arms and I was standing outside with her and she was OK, she was normal.
“I made her sleep and later she didn’t wake up, she was not breathing.
“My mother rushed her to the hospital and when she got there, they said if we had brought her five minutes earlier, she would have lived.
“When I asked the doctor what happened to my baby, they said it was a cot death.”
When asked how she felt after being arrested for Asheeqah’s murder, Scott said she was not an abusive mother.
“If my seven-year-old daughter could take the witness stand, she would be able to say what kind of mother I am,” she said.
“I don’t want to speak about this case now, or my baby. It’s still very fresh.”