An uMhlanga man allegedly beat his nine-year-old son with a sjambok, causing such injuries that the child had to be hospitalised.
|||Durban - An uMhlanga man allegedly beat his nine-year-old son with a sjambok, causing such injuries that the child had to be admitted to hospital.
The 40-year-old father, who was arrested and charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, was expected to appear in court today for a formal bail hearing after spending a week in custody.
A police source said a neighbour had contacted the police saying the boy could be heard screaming.
“Officers went to the scene and found the child had been assaulted. They detained the father and called the child’s mother in Johannesburg. The mother then called an uncle of the boy who admitted the child to hospital. He has been in his uncle’s custody as per the mother’s request,” the source said.
Police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said the man was arrested last Tuesday at his flat in uMhlanga.
“He was charged in terms of the Children’s Act
,” said Zwane, adding that the man had made his first appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman, Natasha Ramkisson, confirmed that the man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, had been in custody for a week.
Marc Hardwick, managing member of The Guardian, an organisation that provides investigative services as well as awareness and training about crimes involving children, said he had come across several cases of child abuse where sjamboks had been used.
“Beating a child with a sjambok can damage the liver and kidneys and cause renal failure,” he said.
Hardwick said parents tended to imitate their own parents when disciplining their children and in some cultures using a sjambok was perceived as an appropriate way to discipline a child.
The director of Child Welfare Durban and District, Mariza Kitching, said this was the second case of sjambokking reported to them in the past six months.
Kitching said incidents of child abuse were often reported by neighbours or other members of the public but that the organisation had few incidents reported from the uMhlanga area.
lauren.anthony@inl.co.za
Daily News
