Amber Lee Hughes sentencing proceedings postponed due to logistical issues

Sentencing proceedings in the self-confessed child killer Amber Lee Hughes’s case have been postponed to April due to logistical issues.

The father of slain four-year-old Nada Jane Challita was on Thursday set to give an account of the events that led up to his daughter's brutal murder before the Johannesburg High Court.

Hughes was cross-examined in the last sitting, where she submitted her evidence to the High Court as part of her sentencing proceedings.

She is charged with the murder and rape of Nada Jane, her former partner’s child.

The child was killed by drowning in the Glenvista home she lived in with her father and Hughes.

Nada Jane was killed while left in the care of Hughes when Elie Challita had left the province for business on 23 January 2023.

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During the court proceedings, Hughes had submitted that Elie’s alleged infidelity in the relationship had pushed her to commit murder.

She went on to detail that the child's future would be bleak had she decided to leave the relationship, as she was the child's primary caregiver.

Hughes has been in custody for three years now and had previously maintained her innocence on the charges she’s facing.

Prosecutor Rolene Barnard and the Presiding Judge, Richard Mkhabela, had questioned her about continuing to lie to the court for so long and dragging the case unnecessarily.

She would respond that her former legal representative's advice made it difficult for her to plead guilty to murder and not the two counts of rape that she is charged with.

The matter will sit on 15 April 2026 for the continuation of the sentencing proceedings.