Pastor Ronald Ruiters and his wife sobbed incessantly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday as their pregnant daughter appeared in connection with the death of her 18-month-old son.

Abigail Ruiters is pregnant with her fourth child.

Dressed in an oversized grey top‚ she rested on the railing in the dock in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.

Ruiters‚ 30‚ has been charged with negligence under the Children’s Act. And her boyfriend‚ Ameer Peters‚ standing next to her in court‚ is accused of murdering her 18-month-old son‚ Jeremiah Ruiters.

Ruiters is expecting Peters’s child.

They were arrested after Jeremiah died of serious injuries to the head and body on Monday‚ according to police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana.

This was the couple’s first appearance in court. It emerged that Peters is being held at the hospital section of Pollsmoor prison because he tried to commit suicide in the holding cells.

When the matter was postponed to June 21‚ Abigail burst into tears and looked at her parents.

“Don’t worry‚’’ said her father‚ a well-known cleric from Kensington‚ as she was led away.

The couple has been together for a year‚ according to her father‚ who said that Abigail was at work when 26-year-old Peters took Jeremiah to hospital.

Jeremiah was Abigail’s third child.