Unveiling the dark reality: women accused of child murders and kidnappings
Racquel "Kelly" Smith and Amber Lee Hughes have defied the concept of natural-born nurturers with their eyebrow-raising actions.
Image: File
Traditionally, women have been viewed as nurturing figures in households and communities where they play a vital role in caring for and raising children.
But what happens when a woman turns bad and upends that linear assumption?
The news is increasingly fraught with stories of women being accused of killing their children or children in their care.
Eleven-year-old Jayden-Lee Meek was found murdered outside his home in May, and now his mother, Tiffany Meek, is facing murder charges in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court.
Racquel "Kelly" Smith, and her boyfriend, Jacquin "Boeta" Appollis, along with their friend, Steveno van Rhyn, have been found guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking over the disappearance of her daughter, Joshlin, on February 19, 2024.
Joshlin, who lived in a shack in Saldanha Bay with her mother, has never been found.
Jayden-Lee Meek was found murdered outside his home after failing to come home on May 12, 2025.
Image: Supplied
This week, "IOL" reported on cases where women allegedly killed children, either their own or children in their care.
Former pre-school teacher, Amber Lee Hughes, has admitted in the Johannesburg High Court to killing her lover's four-year-old daughter, Nada-Jane Chalita, after a serious altercation with the child's father.
Hughes is accused of raping and murdering the little girl who was found floating in the bathtub at the home they shared in Glenvista in the south of Johannesburg in January 2023.
"It is also alleged that she drowned her and cut both her wrists. The deceased’s lifeless body was later found floating in the bathtub," the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.
The NPA added that Hughes had threatened to harm the child during their numerous disputes.
Hughes maintains that she did not rape the child, and had previously pleaded not guilty.
Last week, she made a late change to her legal team and further stated that she wanted to make admissions, including that she killed the little girl.
Seven-year-old Lolitha Kowa was found with a screwdriver lodged in her head.
Image: Supplied
In another case, police in Cape Town have arrested a woman and her boyfriend in connection with the murder of a neighbour's child. Seven-year-old Lolitha Kowa was last seen on Tuesday afternoon, leaving home to go play at a friend's house in Kuyasa, Khayalitsha.
The child's body was found the following day under the laundry at the friend's home, with a screwdriver still lodged in her head.
Sniffer dogs had led investigators to blood-stained evidence that linked the couple to the brutal murder of the little girl, said police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg.
The arrested couple will appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on Friday, July 25.