Child killer Amber Lee Hughes has tendency to lie, manipulate people, court hears

A social worker who assessed self-confessed killer Amber Lee Hughes testifies in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday that Hughes has a tendency to lie and manipulate people.

Johanna Wolmarans revealed this during her testimony in the dock today, during Hughes’s sentencing proceedings for the rape and murder of her former partner’s child, Nada Jane Challita.

Hughes has been in prison for almost two years for the rape and murder of 4-year-old Challita, which occurred in 2023 after the child's father left her in Hughes’s care.

During proceedings today, the Johannesburg High Court heard that Amber Lee Hughes' upbringing was filled with many traumatic events.

ALSO READ: Key events in the Amber Lee Hughes case – From arrest to guilty verdict in murder of Nada-Jane

Social worker Johanna Wolmarans shares with the court that Hughes's exposure to her late mother's drug abuse and suicidal attempts has affected her behavioral patterns.

Hughes, who was found guilty of the murder and rape of little Nada Jane Challita, was, according to Wolmarans, influenced by her mother's stress management techniques.

"She adapted to ways that did not contribute to positive managing of stress and the incidents regarding her mother drinking, abusing her, attempting suicide and later succeeded in suicide. She adapted to her mother's ways of managing stress and that is to continuously try and commit suicide," Wolmarans states.

The State argues during the proceedings that some of the social worker's testimony borders on hearsay evidence.