I beat my child out of necessity, says mom accused of attempted murder

A 25-year-old Phoenix mother savagely beat her four-year-old daughter "out of necessity."

The Durban woman intends to use this as her defence in her upcoming attempted murder trial.

At the Verulam Regional Court on Wednesday, magistrate Jenny Pillay asked if her attorney Teslyn David was certain of that defence.

"Are you're saying that the child was assaulted because it was necessary?" Pillay asked.

"Yes," David replied.

The mother and her boyfriend, who cannot be named to protect the child's identity, made headlines last year when a video clip showing her punching and kicking her daughter went viral. The video was apparently filmed by the boyfriend.

According to police at the time of their arrests‚ the girl was thrashed to the point where she fell unconscious – all because she scuffed her mother’s boyfriend’s shoes.

The man's attorney Rajendra Nathalal told the court that he planned to argue the unlawfulness of his client's actions.

He will dispute that there was a legal duty for his client to intervene when the child was being beaten.

The two-day trial has been set down for April.

The two accused ignored each other in the dock. They arrived and departed separately.

The child is in her biological father's custody.