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Parents from hell on abuse rap
05/12/2006 22:55 - (SA)
Norman Silke, Die Burger
Port Elizabeth - The little girl doesn't know about Christmas or Father Christmas. She's never had any presents and doesn't have any toys.
But, even with serious burn, she still smiles.
The five-year-old from Kleinskool residential area in Port Elizabeth underwent a successful operation at Dora Nginza Hospital on Tuesday, after she had been forced to put her hands on a hotplate.
Her mother and stepfather, who thought she had stolen 30 cents from a friend, also beat her while her hands were held on the hotplate.
Speaking in a soft voice in the hospital's burns unit, she described how her mother burned her hands while her father hit her with a belt.
But, she could not explain what it was to steal, or what she had stolen.
'I wanted to commit murder'
"Mom and dad hit me a lot," said the girl, whose burns were not treated for a week.
Inspector Ruan Bezuidenhout of the police unit that deals with family violence, child abuse and sexual crimes said it was the worst case of child abuse he had seen.
"When I saw what had been done to her, I wanted to commit murder."
Bezuidenhout said police had found the child after anonymous calls about a girl who was walking around with untreated burn wounds on her hands.
"I found her outside in the road, where she was quietly playing.
"There were old bandages on her hands and something that looked like ointment," he said.
The burn wound on her right hand was already septic and she was taken to hospital.
"The bandages on her hands were apparently put on by neighbours," said Bezuidenhout.
Charged with assault, abuse
Pamela Rubushe, a social worker at the hospital, says foster parents, or a place of safety for the little girl, are being sought urgently.
"She will definitely have to spend Christmas in hospital," she said.
Both parents are in custody and they are due to appear in Port Elizabeth magistrate's court on Friday on charges of serious assault and child abuse.
The State will oppose bail.
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