Child 'should get hiding'

2004-07-13 08:45

Liela Magnus

Pretoria - An acting magistrate of the Pretoria regional court said on Monday that a teenager, who appeared before him on charges of housebreaking and robbery, should have received more corporal punishment as a child.

Magistrate Ben van Schalkwyk asked the 14-year-old boy if he had received hidings as a child. The boy replied that his grandmother sometimes beat him.

Van Schalkwyk responded that a grandmother could not give a proper hiding. "Spare the rod, spoil the child," the magistrate told the court several times. "A child should receive decent hidings," he said.

Van Schalkwyk warned the boy that he would end up in jail if he continued "making mischief".

"In prison, there are older men who make women of young men. It is rough in there. There is no television or television games. You have dry bread and coffee in the morning, pap and gravy in the afternoon and, if you are lucky, dry bread and coffee in the evenings. Is this what you want to do?" Van Schalkwyk asked.

The boy used to live with his grandmother, but is now staying at a children's home in Pretoria. His uncle acted as his guardian at court. Van Schalkwyk released the boy into his uncle's custody.

"You should stay at home. If you roam the streets, your uncle will bring you back to me," Van Schalkwyk said.

- Beeld