Sentencing arguments in Baby X case get underway
Arguments for sentencing begin today in the case of a Chatsworth mother whose unrelenting abuse of her daughter culminated in the child's death.
Baby X - as she's become known - was just three-years-old when she was killed in 2014.
Her official cause of death was "blunt force trauma following fatal child abuse."
In September, her mother was found guilty of a total of 16 charges - including murder and failing to provide medical care.
At trial in the Durban High Court, the defence relied heavily on the assertion that Baby X's mother lacked the mental capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions and we're expecting arguments in mitigation of sentencing today - to follow along the same vein.
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But Judge Mohini Moodley found even a teenager ought to have known that the beating that ended Baby X's life - could be fatal.
And we expect the prosecution will ask for the maximum sentence - which would see Baby X's mother jailed for life.
She will, however, likely not know her fate by the end of today as the matter should be adjourned for a ruling.
