GQEBERHA – The State has requested a postponement in the murder case involving six-year-old Abigail Prins to allow investigating officer Sergeant Zukiswa Feni to verify the residential addresses provided by accused Christine Prins (25) ahead of a formal bail application.

Prins and her boyfriend, Teboho Ramanki (31), are both facing murder charges, while Prins is also charged with kidnapping relating to the disappearance of her niece.

The pair briefly appeared in the Motherwell Magistrate’s Court on Friday, May 22.

Abigail was allegedly kidnapped from her home in Motherwell on March 22 and later found in a shallow grave at St George’s Beach on April 10.

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During proceedings, prosecutor Babalwa Goboza told the court that Sergeant Feni had not personally verified the residential addresses listed in the accused’s documents.

Goboza said police initially assumed that the address where Prins was arrested in Hoogenoeg, Makhanda, was her place of residence.

However, the State raised concerns after Feni contacted the owner of the property, Jennifer Marike, who allegedly stated that Prins was not welcome to stay at the house.

The court also heard allegations that Prins “is always in the streets or in the bushes”, raising concerns about where she would reside should bail be granted.

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Prins’s legal representative, Inga Mbewana, questioned the State’s position, arguing that the addresses listed in the affidavit should already have been verified.

The matter was postponed to May 28 for verification of the addresses and continuation of the formal bail application.

Meanwhile, outside court, the guardian currently caring for Prins’s seven-month-old son told the Express that the child is healthy and doing well under their care.

The family member alleged that the baby was removed from Prins’s custody when he was about one month old after relatives raised concerns that she was living in the bushes with the child.

She further claimed that Prins did not return to see the child after he was placed in family care.

During Thursday’s bail proceedings, Prins told the court that she was caring for her baby in Makhanda and that she relied on a social grant to support him.

The guardian disputed this, saying the child is currently safe, well cared for, and in good health under their supervision.

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