Klerksdorp Record, Klerksdorp - The North West Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, welcomed the 15 year imprisonment handed down to an Alabama couple for abusing their five children. One of the children, a new born baby died of hunger.
The 38-year-old mother and 46-year-old father were sentenced in the High Court sitting in Klerksdorp last week. They were charged with culpable homicide, two counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and child neglect. The parents who cannot be identified to protect the identity of the children, were arrested in 2021.
Lt Col Amanda Funani, police spokesperson, said the court heard horrific testimony of how the mother abused the children by hitting them, throwing them against the wall and withholding food from them. The children were aged between three weeks old and 13 years old.
"The father phoned the police to report the case of assault. Subsequently, police responded and the mother was arrested, but was released on warning after it was discovered that she was breast feeding the three week old baby. In September 2021, two counts of assault GBH were reported against the mother after she badly assaulted her two girls who were eight and 13 years old at the time. She was arrested again,’’ said Funani.
It was then that the investigating officer discovered the three week old baby died of hunger and a culpable homicide docket was registered. The father was arrested in October 2021, after it was discovered that he was also abusing the two young boys aged two and five years old. He was also charged with culpable homicide.
In a separate court case, Klerksdorp Regional Court sentenced a 38-year-old mother to five years imprisonment for assault of her two year old boy.
Testimony was heard in court that the mother who was estranged from the father, argued with him about child support. In an attempt to cajole him in getting to pay her child support she took a video with her cellphone of pulling and squeezing the toddler’s penis. “She forwarded it to the child’s father. The child could be seen screaming and crying in the video. The father took the video to the police and the mother who is a Lesotho National was arrested in August last year. She has been in custody ever since. She was sentenced on February 21,’’ said Funani.
