Baby Jamie - mom found guilty of murder

The mother of three-year-old Chatsworth girl Baby Jamie has been found guilty of the toddler's 2014 murder.

In November 2014 the 31-year-old woman and her mother - Baby Jamie's granny - were arrested for the gruesome assault and torture of the little girl in their Chatsworth home‚ leading to her death.

In addition to the murder charge, they faced child abuse, assault and sexual assault charges relating to the girl's two older siblings, identified as A and D and who are nine and 12.

The children were not identified to protect their identities.

The case took an unexpected turn when the 51-year old grandmother died at the Westville Prison in April.

The defence team had argued that because of injuries the 31-year-old sustained to her head during a 2001 accident, she had suffered from diminished mental capacity and therefore could not be held completely accountable for her role in the torture and assault of Baby Jamie.

However in her ruling on Thursday, Judge Mohini Moodley said that she was satisfied that the woman was able to distinguish between right and wrong.

“Even if the accused were functioning at the level of a 16/17-year-old as assessed by [clinical psychologist] Ms Elkington, she must have foreseen the possibility that the blows she was inflicting on the child‘s face and head with her high-heeled shoe and fist would be fatal, but continued reckless of that outcome,” said Moodley.

“In our view, even to a child of 16, a vicious assault with pointed instrument on a little child‘s head would have inculcated an awareness or realisation that serious consequences, including death, would follow upon that act,” she added.

She was also found guilty on child abuse relating to Jamie’s two siblings but was acquitted of sexual assault charges relating to the siblings.

The matter was adjourned to Friday in order to set a sentencing date.