A 31-year-old woman from Balfour in Mpumalanga has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for beating her two-year-old niece to death.

The woman was sentenced in the Balfour Regional Court on Thursday‚ said police spokesperson Colonel Mtsholi Bhembe.

“The court heard how Brenda Radebe would babysit the toddler for her sister while she had gone to work‚” Bhembe said.

“On July 24‚ 2013‚ the child’s mother returned from work to find her daughter sleeping‚ but noticed that something was not right with her. She then asked her sister‚ the accused‚ if the child was sick. Radebe fabricated a story that another child hit the victim with a stone during the day‚” said Bhembe.

The mother took her child to the clinic and she was later transferred to the Chris Hani Baragwaneth Academic Hospital in Johannesburg. But the two-year-old wouldn’t make it‚ and died the following day.

A post mortem revealed that the child had died from being assaulted.

Police opened a murder case‚ leading to the Radebe’s arrest on 14 June 2016‚ almost three years after the death.

The woman was granted bail during the trial until her sentencing on Thursday.

Commenting on the matter‚ Mpumalanga police commissioner‚ Lieutenant-General Mondli Zuma said it was sad that such a young life had to be lost due to murder or child abuse.

“I hope the sentence will serve as a warning to child abusers that the police and the courts of this country will definitely act against any abuser‚” he said.