Baby X: mom does U-turn on ‘evil eyes’

TERRIFIED of her mother’s “evil eyes”, a drug addict on trial for the murder of her 3-year-old daughter claimed she had tied the child’s legs together after she had messed herself because the older woman, who had controlled her, had told her to do so.

But her Durban High Court testimony began to unravel last Thursday when state advocate Cheryl Naidu put it to the 31-year-old accused that her mother was not present at the time.

“When you tied the child, Accused 2 (the child’s granny) was not at home. Your sister testified that Accused 2 had stayed over at her home that night.

“Because she stayed over at your sister’s home, do you agree that you were not under any threat?” she was asked.

After trying to justify her actions by blaming her mother, she replied, “I was wrong.”

When she was asked if she had made any attempt to untie the child, she answered “No”.

Naidu then put it to the accused that contrary to the woman’s evidence that she was a good and loving mother, she had tied the toddler because she hated her. The woman denied this. “I loved my daughter and did not abuse her and my other children,” she said.

Too much tea

The woman and her 51-yearold mother have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape and child abuse.

As some of the child abuse counts relate to surviving minors, the accused cannot be named.

At the time of the girl’s death in November 2014, she and her siblings were in the foster care of the granny.

After Naidu asked the mother to explain why she had once grabbed a cup of tea from her daughter’s hand and thrown it into the sink, she responded that the child was drinking too much tea, and she wanted her to drink water instead.

She testified that she smoked the ‘sugars’ drug every eight hours in the back room of her mother’s home, where the children were unable to see her.

She told the court that she bought a small packet of sugars for R20 from drug peddlers in the city.

It emerged in court recently that after the child had died, paramedics and police found impressions on her body which suggested she had been tied up.

The string impressions were on the toddler’s left arm.

The woman had also testified that when she left her mother’s home to stay at a shelter in the city, the child did not have any scars on her face and neck.

The granny has elected not to testify.

When the trial resumes in October before Judge Mohini Moodley, a psychiatrist may be called to testify on behalf of the younger woman.