The woman, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, was admitted to bail on Wednesday by Regional Magistrate Mr Mareledi Dipate after the state opted not to oppose her bail application.

Although she is currently serving a sentence for child negligence and is eligible for release on September 27, she still faces a charge of corrupting a child, hence she approached the court for bail pending trial.

When proposing bail conditions for the accused person, the prosecutor, Ms Seeletso Ookeditse told the court that the state would, this time around, not oppose the granting of conditional bail to the accused.

She said when the accused first initiated bail, the state was not in agreement with the application as it first wanted to liaise with the social welfare officer on how to proceed with the matter.

“The second accused person (mother) has been interviewed together with the victim child, and after all, we came to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the minor child to have the mother admitted to conditional bail,” she said.

Hence, she proposed that the mother bind herself with a recognisance of P5 000, provide a surety who would bind themselves with P2 000 and report to Broadhurst Police Station.

The accused person would also not be allowed to interfere with state witnesses, communicate with Selolwane, or reside at Mmopane Block One, where the child resides during school breaks.

Additionally, her visits to the minor child would be conducted under supervision.

She, alongside other accused persons, will appear before court for a status hearing on December 5.

The mother and her friend are alleged to have, on 26 January last year in Oodi, received a payment of P4 500 to deliver a 13-year-old girl to the rape accused Selolwane. ENDS