AN 18 year old Epworth mother strangled her 3 year old daughter to death with a neck chain before she torched her house to conceal the crime, a Harare court heard on Thursday.

Talent Kuvimba purportedly committed the offence on March 10 this year at her house in Chinamano, Epworth.

She appeared before magistrate Tilda Mazhande facing murder charges.

Kuvimba was not asked to plead.

She was ordered to apply for bail at the High Court before her case was remanded to April 4.

According to prosecutors, it was around 10pm when she allegedly strangled her daughter with a neck chain to death.

She is accused of having lit a candle, placed it on the bed on which her daughter’s body was lying so as to appear as if was an accident.

Court heard she left the house burning and went to the shops only to return hours later.

Her daughter was burnt beyond recognition.

Kuvimba reported the case to the police and told them that her daughter was accidentally burnt.

The court heard her body was taken to Harare hospital where a post-mortem was conducted.

Doctors established that the victim succumbed to strangulation and, according to court papers the chain was still around the dead girl’s neck.