Baby attackers 'must rot in jail'
2010-04-28 09:21
André Damons and Felix Dlangamandla, Beeld
Johannesburg - The child minder who was cruelly assaulted along with a one-year-old baby in Robindale, Randburg, fears that she will be blamed for the incident, after letting the attackers in.
"I didn't know I had opened the door for the wrong people and I can't understand why they did this to us," said Francina Sekhu on Tuesday.
"I hate them and don't want to see them again. They have betrayed me.
"They should rot in jail for what they did to us," she said.
Sekhu added that the parents of the one-year-old Marzanne Kruger had briefly visited her on Sunday and Tuesday morning in Helen Joseph Hospital while she was sleeping.
Still in pain
Six days after the attack on her and "her" baby, Sekhu was still confused, in much pain and was unable to remember what had happened exactly.
She could only manage a weak smile and held up a thumb to show she was okay.
Sekhu's face and eyes are still heavily bruised and swollen following the assault. A cut on her forehead has been stitched up and her hair had to be shaved on the right side of her head for another wound to be treated.
Then she wanted to know: "Is my baby okay?
"I'm so glad she is okay. That is my baby."
Sekhu had been looking after Marzanne since September last year.
Sandton Medi-Clinic spokesperson Liezel Furlong said the baby's condition was unchanged.
A "friend" of Sekhu and several of his mates had brutally assaulted Sekhu and the baby on Thursday in the baby's home in Roosevelt Street.
'Why did they do this?'
Sekhu said she couldn't remember what had happened after she had let the three men into the house.
Later, she woke up in a hospital bed.
Marzanne's mother, Madelein Kruger, arrived at the home at about 13:00 and found a badly assaulted Sekhu as well as her seriously injured child.
Sekhu said the men were very friendly when she had let them in and were not armed. "I knew them. Why did they do this? They could've just asked for money. I would have given it to them if I had it."
Nelson Maphosa, 28, and Gerald Nyantumbo, 25, both builders from Mozambique, were arrested in connection with the incident on Saturday and would again appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
Police were still looking for Chakhoma Machaba, 28, another builder and from Mozambique, who presumably planned the attack. He is believed to have fled to Mozambique.