The man from Welverdiend, Gauteng, who was arrested after his baby girl was raped and murdered nearly two years ago has finally pleaded to the charges against him.

Carletonville Herald reports the accused, Hugo Ferreira, appeared in the Pretoria High Court before Judge Portia Dipuo Phahlane last Friday.

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

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

A pre-sentence report provides background information on an accused person to assist the court in determining an appropriate sentence.

Ferreira was sent to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation last year, where experts found him fit to stand trial.

In custody since his arrest

He has never been released on bail and remains in custody at Correctional Services Tlokwe in Potchefstroom.

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

The community was shocked when 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 left 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, who lived with him in a back room of one of the railway houses in Welverdiend, went to a woman in the main house on the property and showed her the injured baby.

The woman phoned an ambulance and the police.

Paramedics transported the baby to Carletonville Hospital, where she died the following morning.

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