After his 3-year-old sister *Angel passed away, *Brandon, who is nine years old, was named as a witness for the prosecution in her mother’s and ex-stepfather’s trial. *Angel is said to have endured horrifying maltreatment since she was a baby.
The South Gauteng High Court is scheduled to open the case on Thursday. The 29-year-old mother from Johannesburg and her 40-year-old ex-husband are accused of offenses from 2018 to 2021. These include assaults with the purpose to cause great physical harm, rape, murder, and abuse of children. To preserve the children’s privacy, their names have been concealed.
The brother and sister had previously been taken from their mother by social services due to allegations of abuse and neglect, but they were later given back to the couple, according to the state.
On May 11, 2021, Angel passed away. The indictment states that surface injuries of varying ages were found on her body, and that pressure on her neck consistent with throttling was judged to be the cause of death.
Two months prior, she had been admitted to Germiston’s Bertha Gxowa Hospital to receive treatment for a fractured arm and leg.
Social workers first became aware of the two kids in June 2018, when Brandon was hospitalized to the Clinton Clinic in Alberton following what was purportedly his mother’s boiling kettle burn.
He was moved into a temporary safe haven in December 2018. Concerns about neglect also led to Angel’s removal from her mother’s care. In November 2020, the children’s court did, however, order the two minors to be reunited with their mother.
The state claims that after Angel’s mother and stepfather took her back, they beat her with various objects, threw her against a wall or cupboard, fed her until she puked, made her eat the vomit, and then sealed her nose and mouth after stuffing food down her throat. According to reports, the mother massaged the feces on her body and pushed on her tummy to make the child’s body pass a stool. The girl was allegedly raped by the mother’s lover, who allegedly penetrated her and inserted his fingers and other things.
It is also said that Brandon was beaten up a lot. According to the state, they beat him with their hands, attacked him with an electrical cable, and doused him in boiling water.
The prosecution will contend that the mother and her partner worked to pursue a shared goal when these offenses were committed.
Luke Lamprecht, the director of advocacy for Women and Men Against Child Abuse, stated that the case demonstrated how important it is to shield weaker kids from horrific crimes.
“Actions taken by the social worker or workers in question, who [permitted Angel to be] returned to [a family of reported abuse] without sufficient supervision, have drawn criticism.
It acts as a prompt to recognize and report circumstances in which children are in danger. In order to protect children, those with the legal authority—the police and social work services—must responsibly carry out their required duty of care.
“In high-risk circumstances, legislative intervention is necessary to guarantee children’s protection under judicial supervision. The state must make persons accountable for this breach of duty of care when these mandated reporting organizations falter, according to Lamprecht.
The boy, nine years old, is receiving care at a daycare facility.
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