Tshego* sat clutching her orange teddy bear, eyes nervously looking around the brightly decorated intermediary room.

Ntombi Zwane, an intermediary, adjusted the earphones on seven-year-old Tshego’s head as she listened to Johannesburg High Court Judge Kathy Satchwell on the other end.

“My name is Kathy and ndivela eBhayi. Ndithetha isiXhosa kancinci (I’m from Port Elizabeth and I speak a little Xhosa); do you think I speak Xhosa well?” Satchwell asked the little girl on Tuesday.

Tshego nodded twice.

“Today, we are all going to ask you questions … it’ll be hard work, but I’m sure for a girl in Grade 1 whose teacher claps for her when she does well, you’ll be okay… can you do that?” the judge asked softly.

“Yes,” Tshego replied in a barely audible voice.

Tshego was allegedly abducted by 27-year-old Simon Rikhotso on December 24 last year, while she had been visiting her grandmother in Thembisa.

For more details go to www.iol.co.za/