Judgment in the murder trial of three-year-old Poppie van der Merwe will on Wednesday be delivered in the Pretoria High Court.
Poppie’s mother, Louisa Koekemoer and her stepfather, Kobus, are accused of murdering the toddler in October last year.
They are also charged with the assault and child abuse of Poppie and a boy who was five-years-old between 2015 and 2016.
Both pleaded guilty to the charges and blamed each other during their testimony on Poppie’s death.
The toddler died of bleeding on the brain and her body was covered in bruises when she died.
On Tuesday the State Advocate, Salome Scheepers, argued that both the mother and stepfather admitted to disciplining Poppie and that they were the only adults present during the last days of her life when she sustained the fatal injury.
She argued, even if the mother was not responsible for the injuries, she had a legal duty to protect her child.
Defence Advocate for the stepfather, Lana Augustein, argued that her client wasn’t home the morning the fatal injury was sustained and that the state didn’t prove he could have foreseen that Poppie would die because of the assaults of his wife.
Defence advocate for the mother, Adrian Nel, argued the mother was afraid of her husband and therefore didn’t intervene when he beat Poppie.
