Durban - State witnesses took to the stand ahead of the sentencing of the mother of Baby X, who was found guilty of child abuse, assault GBH and killing her three-year-old daughter in 2014.
Durban - In the Durban High Court on Thursday, former Ward 69 councilor and community activist Brandon Pillay told the court of the community’s outrage over the child’s death.
“We could not fathom how a child could be killed at the hands of someone who was supposed to care for her.”
Pillay, who described the child as looking like an "angel", said the community, along with various businessmen, had rallied together to give the child a dignified funeral.
In September, the 35-year-old mother, of Chatsworth, was also found guilty of child abuse against her 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.
The boy had been burnt, pinched and assaulted. She had forced the children to “hustle” (beg) for money in the Durban CBD area.
The siblings are currently in a place of safety.
In November 2014, Baby X's scarred and lifeless body was found in their Havenside home.
During the trial, it was revealed she died due to “blunt force trauma following fatal child abuse".
It was heard in court that her grandmother had allegedly throttled and thrown her to ground repeatedly two days prior to her death.
The following day, Baby X's mother had allegedly hit her with a high-heeled shoe across the head and face.
The grandmother, who was awoken from her sleep by child’s screams and crying, had joined in the beating, hitting the child using her own shoe as well as allegedly striking Baby X across the face, head, and body with her hands.
Baby X’s siblings were told to “mop up the blood” on the kitchen floor, from Baby X’s “bust nose”.
On the same night, a plastic packet was placed over the child’s head and her hands and legs bound to the bed with rope before she went to sleep. She died the following day.
The mother's co-accused, the children's grandmother, who faced up to 17 charges, including sexual assault, child abuse, and murder, died in prison due to natural causes in April this year.