Mhlaba Memela

Mhlaba Memela

The 20-year-old woman who allegedly strangled her three-year-old toddler after discovering that she was pregnant with a second child made a brief appearance in Newcastle magistrate's court yesterday.

Yolanda Radebe, from Ingagane in Newcastle, northern KwaZulu-Natal, was arrested last Friday after confessing to a friend that she had killed her baby boy.

The case was postponed to January 21 and transferred to a local high court. She will be held in police custody until her next court appearance.

It is alleged that Radebe was impregnated by a different man and not the father of her child.

Police records show that she confessed to strangling the toddler, then throwing the body into a plastic garbage bag and tossing it into a rubbish bin. The murder is said to have been committed three months ago.

Police said Radebe failed to give more details about the child's whereabouts when her family and friend demanded answers. Police spokesman Captain Shooz Magudulela said police were still investigating the case.

"We are currently trying to establish where the body of the child is. Police will go to the local dump site in the hope that we can exhume the remains."

Local residents said it might be impossible for police to retrieve the body as municipality workers flatten the rubbish at the dump site regularly.