A mother who is accused of selling her newborn child then killing a woman and stealing her baby was sent to the Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital on Monday for evaluation.
Nelisiwe Thwala, 29, is to spend the next month at the hospital following an order by the Johannesburg high court earlier this month.
Thwala, who had been on the run for three years, was finally arrested last year following an alleged murder and the sale of her own baby.
It is alleged that after giving birth in 2019, she sold her child. But once her family found out, she was kicked out of the home in Zola, Soweto, and told to only return once she has the child.
It was reported that Thwala and her boyfriend Xolani Mkhize allegedly went to Mkhize’s uncle who lived in the area with his three-month-old baby boy and his wife Nonhlakanipho Lukhozi.
Woman accused of killing mom to steal her baby sent to psychiatric hospital
Nelisiwe Thwala, 29, allegedly sold her own baby but stole another child after killing its mother.
Image: 123RF/Kati Finnell
A mother who is accused of selling her newborn child then killing a woman and stealing her baby was sent to the Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital on Monday for evaluation.
Nelisiwe Thwala, 29, is to spend the next month at the hospital following an order by the Johannesburg high court earlier this month.
Thwala, who had been on the run for three years, was finally arrested last year following an alleged murder and the sale of her own baby.
It is alleged that after giving birth in 2019, she sold her child. But once her family found out, she was kicked out of the home in Zola, Soweto, and told to only return once she has the child.
It was reported that Thwala and her boyfriend Xolani Mkhize allegedly went to Mkhize’s uncle who lived in the area with his three-month-old baby boy and his wife Nonhlakanipho Lukhozi.
'I've lost my child for the second time to the same thief'
Lukhozi was killed in her home and her body was disposed of in a wheelie bin in a nearby field.
The couple allegedly took the three-month-old infant back to Thwala’s parents, claiming they had returned with child Thwala had sold.
Mkhize has since been convicted and handed two life sentences.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane confirmed that Thwala was taken to Sterkfontein on Monday.
“I can confirm that she was taken to Sterkfontein [Psychiatric Hospital] today. The case is postponed to May 31,” she said.
Thwala faces charges of kidnapping, murder, human trafficking and defeating the ends of justice.
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