Mom of girl found dead ‘not coping’

After a month of being detained on a charge of murdering her six-year-old daughter, the mental condition of a KwaZulu-Natal mother is said to have deteriorated.

Fungai Nyamadzawo, 42, mother of slain Alexia, made a brief appearance in the KwaDukuza Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The court heard that Nyamadzawo would undergo mental observation at Fort Napier psychiatric hospital on August 25.

Nyamadzawo was arrested after Alexia’s body was discovered hidden in a sugarcane field in Riet Valley, outside Glendale, north of Durban, on June 2.

Nyamadzawo’s attorney, Rakesh Maharaj, told journalists that his client was unstable and she was on medication.

“She remains extremely emotional. I will be following up with the station commander at the KwaDukuza police station to ensure she’s properly monitored and that she receives medication. “She is in need of observation and examination.” She is also charged with defeating the ends of justice after she allegedly told police her daughter had been snatched from the back seat of her car while she was driving in the area with her two children.

In a previous appearance, magistrate Blanche van Eeden said medical records from two general practitioners and a psychologist showed “nothing wrong with her, no agitation or anything”.

However, Maharaj argued that reports had been compiled before his client was arrested, one as early as March, and that new assessments would need to be done.

The case resumes on July 27 for monitoring purposes before Nyamadzawo undergoes her mental observation a month later. —