A tearful Megan Prins will trade a prison cell for a hospital bed nearly three months after the alleged murder of her 7-year-old son Sloan in an Umhlanga guesthouse.

In a brief appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s court on Wednesday‚ the 34-year-old was formally transferred from the awaiting-trial section at the Westville prison to the Fort Napier hospital in Pietermaritzburg for psychiatric observation.

Accused of drugging and smothering the boy to death in a guesthouse in June‚ Prins’s prosecution has been delayed before it has even started – because of a dire bed shortage in the Pietermaritzburg hospital.

Before her case can go anywhere‚ her sanity and capacity to stand trial must be tested‚ requiring the 30-day stay in the facility‚ the only one of its kind in the province.

The court heard that following her discharge from the facility‚ she intended to apply for bail.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for September 25.al.