Amber Lee Hughes returned to the witness stand in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday as sentencing proceedings continue. The matter had already been postponed twice with the latest delay linked to her legal team completing consultations.

Hughes was convicted of the premeditated murder and rape of four-year-old Nada-Jane Challita. The court previously heard the child was drowned in a bathtub filled with cold water in 2023.

“Everything Built Up and I Snapped”

In her testimony, Hughes told the court the killing followed what she described as a long emotional build-up. She said the trigger was discovering that Nada’s father had been unfaithful.

“On that day it felt like everything that had happened throughout our relationship had built up, and I snapped,” she told the court.

Hughes also testified that she planned to take her own life and Nada’s. She claimed she believed death was better for the child than being left in the father’s care.

“I thought that it would have been better if Nada was dead than to just be with her father,” she told the court.

Work life Unravelled Before the Crime

Hughes told the court she attempted suicide multiple times between the ages of 14 and 16, which she linked to depression and difficulties at home. She completed matric, then worked in promotional modelling and waitressing, before joining Baby Steps preschool as an intern in November 2020. She was appointed as a teacher in February 2021.

It is reported that she later started missing work and struggled to meet her responsibilities. She was transferred, then demoted to assistant teacher in 2022, and resigned later that year.

Social Worker: Trauma and PTSD Shaped Emotional Control

In evidence presented to court in October 2025, social worker Johanna Wolmarans said Hughes was exposed to traumatic events from as young as six and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Wolmarans told the court Hughes struggled to manage frustration and anger.

Wolmarans also said Hughes’s borderline personality disorder contributed to the crimes. Sentencing proceedings are ongoing.