Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
Father sentenced to double life term for horrific rape, murder of baby girl
The Mercury
|April 04, 2025
A MAN sat motionless in court yesterday as he was sentenced to two life terms for what the court called the barbaric and monstrous killing of his 8-day-old baby daughter, as well as for raping the infant.
The reasons Hugo Ferreira gave the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for murdering and raping his infant daughter, was because he was angry with the child's mother, his mother, as well as towards his former wife.
The latter two women, he said, had abandoned him, while the mother of the murdered child, Maureen Brandt, had left him alone with the crying child while she went off to sell some clothes for money.
In pleading guilty to murder and rape, Ferreira explained that on June 8, 2023, Brandt told him that she wanted to go and ask her ex-boyfriend for money for drugs or to sell the baby's clothing for money.
This story is from the April 04, 2025 edition of The Mercury.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The Mercury
The Mercury
Eskom's strategic pause on licence review: What it means for South Africa's energy market
FOLLOWING the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) and power utility Eskom agreeing to suspend legal proceedings on Friday over the licensing of five trading partners, energy experts said the announcement creates the regulatory space to address the current gap, which hinders trading.
3 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
Calls for the strengthening of B-BBEE to boost compliance and tackle “criminality”
RULES governing Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) must be tightened and made more punitive to ensure compliance and clamp down on criminality such as fronting.
3 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
The imperialist onslaught on Iran
Condemning the illegal and unjustified US-Israel assault
4 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
Unlocking the unexpected benefits of quiet time
WE LIVE in a world that never shuts up. But mounting neuroscience suggests something radical: silence is not emptiness, it is medicine.
2 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
The tl uncapped 'Springbok bolters': Who will pass the Rassie test in 2026?
A SQUAD of 49 players begin the Springbok alignment camp in Cape Town on Monday, with 11 of them wide-eyed newcomers as coach Rassie Erasmus looks to the future, but how many of those youngsters stand a realistic chance of being capped this year?
2 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
THE NEW SCIENCE OF OVARIAN TISSUE CRYOPRESERVATION
Is this the end of menopause?
3 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
Why should we worry? This new war does not affect us
MOST people, especially in our country, are not going to be overly perturbed by the latest US-Israel/Iran war.
1 min
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
Why your weekend plans will cost you more this year
THE recent South African Budget Speech, while offering some relief in income tax, has quietly introduced a series of price adjustments that will inevitably trickle down to your cherished weekend activities.
2 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
HOME AFFAIRS OFFICIALS ROB SA BLIND
THERE is something very wrong at the Department of Home Affairs.
1 mins
March 02, 2026
The Mercury
SARS pushes for President-led crackdown as illicit economy swells to R1.2 trillion
THE South African Revenue Service (SARS) has laid out an ambitious, system-wide plan to tackle the country’s ballooning illicit economy after ActionSA MP Alan Beesley warned in Parliament that the revenue authority remains underfunded and unable to fully confront organised criminal networks.
1 mins
March 02, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size