The man from Welverdiend who was arrested after his baby girl was raped and murdered almost two years ago finally pleaded to the charges against him this week.

The accused, Hugo Ferreira, appeared in the Pretoria High Court before Judge Portia Dipuo Phahlane on Friday, February 7.

Ferreira (37) pleaded guilty to both the murder and rape charges against him.

The case was postponed for the preparation of a pre-sentence report to February 25, when he will again appear in the same court.

A pre-sentence report is a background report on an accused person that helps the court decide on a sentence.

Ferreira was sent to the Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation last year, where experts determined that his trial could continue.

In custody since his arrest

He has never been released on bail and is being held in the Potchefstroom Prison.

Captain Jacques Nagel of the Carletonville Detectives Branch is the investigating officer.

The community was shocked when the police arrested the father on charges of rape and murder on June 9, 2023.

Ferreira reportedly took the fully clothed eight-day-old baby girl from her mother (37) and exited the back room they had rented the day before.

When he returned sometime later, the child was naked and injured.

The baby’s mother, Ferreira’s former girlfriend with whom he stayed in a back room of one of the railway houses at Welverdiend, went to the woman living in the main house on the property and showed her the injured baby.

The woman phoned an ambulance and the police.

The ambulance transported the baby to Carletonville Hospital, where the little girl died the following morning.