Chatsworth Child Welfare calls for more people to be charged in a recorded case of verbal abuse of a minor
Durban — Chatsworth Child Welfare is demanding that more people implicated in the matter of a 6-year-old boy who was verbally abused by his stepfather be charged.
This follows a 10-minute telephone recording, which went viral on social media last week, in which a man hurls profanities at the child over his prolonged use of the toilet and demands to know why he had left his school shoes in the car.
The boy was apparently living with his stepfather’s family in Chatsworth, while his biological mother lived with the stepfather in Mount Edgecombe.
In the voice recording is a conversation between the stepfather and his sister, who is heard complaining that the child was also not doing his homework correctly. While the child tried to explain himself, the man aggressively swore at him, calling him an idiot, useless and ordered him to slap himself repeatedly.
As a form of punishment, the man then instructed the child to hold his ears and jump while saying: “I won’t be an idiot and I will not take long in the bathroom”. This, while the stepfather's sister complained he wasn’t jumping fast enough.
SAPS Chatsworth station commander Ruth de Villiers said the man, 30, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the minor child, handed himself over to police on Tuesday.
He appeared before the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court where he was remanded in custody at Westville Prison until Monday for a formal bail application.
Chatsworth Child Welfare president Logan Naidu said the situation didn’t only require the perpetrator to be dealt with, but everybody associated with it.
Naidu said he had directed the institution’s social workers to open charges against the alleged perpetrator, the person who recorded the exchange and the person who distributed the clip.
Naidu said the police informed them that the request could be prosecuted, but added that he was convinced the police wanted to take an easy route out of the case.
“We’re having challenges with both the court and the police in this matter. The police said there was no need for them to do this. They have just accepted the charges but do not understand the seriousness of the matter,” said Naidu.
He said it was shocking that they received a court order from the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court not to give out information regarding the case.
“We (Child Welfare) are the advocacy, legislative and mandated institution in the Chatsworth area that has been involved in these matters for almost 45 years. We don’t need anyone to tell us what to do or not do …
“The point we are trying to make here is that there are thousands of children out there who may be subjected to the same thing, but it seems as if the courts are closing the doors on us.”
Naidu said they were working on an application to take the protest to the court on the next appearance, adding it wouldn’t be appropriate for the child to be in the same circumstances as previously.
One of the institution’s social workers, Jessica Khanyile, said the purpose was to put on record that they were following up on the matter using the protocol under the Children Act 38 section 5. She said they also aimed to educate communities that certain things were not permitted to be shared on social media.
“We will continue to investigate the case until we are able to establish a permanent plan that would work in the best interest of the child.”
The voice recording came to light after the Reaction Unit SA (Rusa) lifted the lid on the abuse after a private security company, NP Knights Search and Rescue in Gauteng, was asked to help them.
Rusa head Prem Balram said the stepfather had been identified as an employee of a local trucking company.
The step-aunt, who is said to be encouraging the abuse, has also been identified. Residential addresses have also been located.
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