A father has appeared at the Calcutta Magistrate’s court near Hazyview in Mpumalanga for allegedly beating his 12-year-old daughter to death. Themba Maphanga allegedly assaulted his daughter using a hose-pipe after she went missing for three nights last week. The victim fainted and was certified dead upon arrival at the hospital.
Maphanga’s case of murder was postponed to Friday for a formal bail application while he is remanded in custody.
His legal representative, Duimpie Dube says they do not know if they have a strong case or not as they have not yet been provided with the docket.
“I cannot say that we have a strong case or not because we have not been provided with the docket and we do not know the cause of death; so we are not able to say whether we have a strong case or not. But we will hear when we meet on Friday what the court will decide. On the issue of the postponement, they said the machine is not working so that’s why it had to be postponed because it was postponed provisionally last week for today (Tuesday) for the bail application.”
Maphanga’s family members are hoping that he will be released on bail so he can attend the funeral service of his daughter. Family Spokesperson, Joseph Nkuna, says they are still devastated by the incident.
“We are very much saddened because of these two incidents. the one that our granddaughter is in a mortuary is dead, and this one that my nephew is in jail. It is very much an unfortunate situation.”
