Screenshot of mother abusing her child whilst boyfriend looks on…
Sunshiny South Africa was marred this past week when a graphic video of a young mother repeatedly abusing her four year old went viral.
Story has it that the child “had urinated on the floor”. The mother’s boyfriend did not take kindly to that and threw the child against the cabinet. Boyfriend insisted that the mother punish her or he would kill them both. He continued to lie on the bed and film the abuse, which was leaked to social media. The mother is seen to hit the child all over her little body. She then proceeds to viciously kick her child.
Apparently, they took the child to a doctor who was having none of their explanations and instantly alerted the police who arrested the couple. The couple was released almost immediately on, brace yourself for this, a R3000 each bail. It is a case of grievous bodily harm which has been turned to attempted murder. The public remembers all too well, the episode of another murdered little boy, Shahiel. Innocent Shahiel was murdered by his aunt and his body was stuffed in a manhole. Back then, the community joined together and performed countless searches while his aunt and gran who knew their atrocious deed, kept mum until eventually all was revealed.
Now, here again, this brutal incident has sparked an uproar and incited anger among residents and social media users. The child has since, been admitted to a local hospital. with swollen legs, internal injuries and a blood clot on her brain, all caused by a one minute and 58 second thrashing. At one point, the mother can be heard saying, “You don’t understand, you are making me go off my head. I’m having like a nervous breakdown in my life.”
Throughout much of the video, the child is quiet throughout but she cries out aloud when the mother begins repeatedly kicking her.
Only the biological father and granny have been allowed to visit the child in hospital. Facebook users have expressed disgust, there were offers of adoption made but rumour has it that the biological father is suing for custody. This matter is being attended to by the Child Welfare Department who condemned the violation of children and called for stiffer sentences for child abusers. They maintain that :
“Abusers of minor children are walking freely due to the incompetence and failure of stakeholders in our criminal justice system.
The latest research shows that only one out of each nine minor victims reports abuse, and only 8% of these cases will result in a conviction.
These figures do not reflect successful prosecutions, and include cases where the accused pleads guilty to the charges.”
The 2017 South African Child Gauge, published by the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, a school-based study estimated that 35.4% of South Africa’s children experience some form of sexual abuse; 34.8% experience physical violence; 26.1% experience emotional abuse; and 15.1% experience neglect.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical abuse as :
“Intentional use of physical force against the child that results in – or has a high likelihood of resulting in – harm for the child’s health, survival, development or dignity. This includes hitting, beating, kicking, shaking, biting, strangling, scalding, burning, poisoning and suffocating. Much physical violence against children in the home is inflicted with the object of punishing.”
I have seen some of the video myself. I could not bring myself to watch the entire video. It was that graphic and that disturbing. Imagine my surprise when I read of it again, on my local neighbourhood watch. Turns out that the young family LIVES in my neighbourhood. It is unfathomable that something so heinous had been taking place in the midst of us and we were unaware. Thankfully, the child is now in the best of hands, but still, what if we learned too late of the abuse and her demise? There has been a call and a petition for them to be thrown out of the neighbourhood. The upset amongst the community is such, that the abusers ought to fear for themselves.
I do have the video but chose not to share it. It is emotionally offensive . The graphic content does not need to be perpetuated, for the child’s sake too. Sometimes the constant viewing leaves little to the imagination and some people have become immune to the harshness of reality. I know school kids who have looked at it rather cursorily, more as a matter of fact of life. How sad is that, who knows what they may have endured to make them project that way. Then again, are we raising a heartless nation?
Today, as luck would have it, I stumbled across this blog post, which that I contributed to. Let’s face it, we all as parents, reach the end of our tether where we resort to yelling. I myself do it. Here, we have been advised beautifully how NOT to behave in anger, a blog post that we can all learn from. Let us ask ourselves, “will this matter in 5 hours, 5 days, 5 months?” Most times not. In my case yes, I am constantly hounding my son to hound his school books, to extract that vital knowledge to garner him a good pass for his final year of secondary schooling. Let us choose our battles, walk away from a situation if we have to. Obviously, children will be children, they are doing the best they can, they are the little people.
How though does one educate people not to physically, mentally and emotionally torture children? Is it not said that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world? What should be a beautiful imagine has suddenly turned scary. Is this the world that we aspire to have, to leave behind for our children and their children??? The mind boggles.
Having been involved and a contributor to Operation Bobbi Bear and as a mother myself, I cannot comprehend how a mother could inflict such harm on her child, or any child for that matter.
Still very concerned that the child may have brain damage, I find some solace in putting my words into paper. There are monsters amongst us, they live, breathe and steal oxygen from the deserving. Abuse could be right in our midst and some so cleverly concealed too.
Let us not numb our eyes and minds to the harshness out there. Hopefully, this post will bring awareness to the plight of these children, that a child can be saved. Empower your children so that others do not abuse them.
Speak out, cry out, shout out, BUT PLEASE DO SOMETHING.
Say NO to Child Abuse!
Help Contact Details :
Lifeline : (27) (11) 422 4242 or 0861 322 322
Durban Child Welfare Organisation : (27) (31) 312 9313
pr@childwelfaredurban.org.za
http://www.childwelfaredurban.org.za
http://cwdd.org.za/report-abuse/
Inset image courtesy of https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news
Terrible!! How could one be evil! A child is a child why you forget they to be taught . Humans are becoming more in sensitive day by day
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Believe me, it was bad. That poor child’s face is swollen and bruised. Somehow a picture was leaked. She is not alone now, she has found guardians.
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That’s great
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This is terrible and far too often this sort of abuse goes on. My heart and prayers are with the little child.And I hope justice is serve on the Mother and her boyfriend.
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Yes, they go to court on April 11. I pray they are sentenced to imprisonment for a very long time! At least until she is over 18 so that she is of a legal age and can no longer be used as a pawn or a bargaining tool.
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Yes it is awful. I do hope the child recovers, and they get what is deserving.
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Yes, I hope so too. Obviously mental trauma later. For now, I pray her brain is not affected 😦
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Me too. xx
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some people have become immune to the harshness of reality. I know school kids who have looked at it rather cursorily, more as a matter of fact of life.
This is also something sad.
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Yes. I feel sadder after i wrote this as well. What is this world being reduced to?!
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intolerable!
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Yes. Absolutely.
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I can’t understand how a mother can bring a child into this world then treat them like this! I feel the pain of my children’s every injury… It’s a terrifying world we live in.
Beautifully written blog… X
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Yes i agree with you. The mind boggles. Thank you for the kind words. Expressing it took me a while, words were stuck, the horror leaves a nasty taste but it needed to be said. I do not believe that these acts be swept under the carpet.
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So, so sad!!!!!!! A very sad post!!!! AWARENESS is vital!!!!
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Yes Patty. She was saved. Thankfully.i haf to
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Tragedy,so sad to see and hear this.Nothing worse than abusing of small kid.Frustrating 😦 .Glad you showed this on your page.
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Very sad. Vigilantes apparently went to oust family from neighbourhood. Boyfriend handed himself over to police for fear of his safety.
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Child abuse is appalling and I am so relieved that this child survived. As a mother of six I can’t understand how any parent can do such things to their own child. Punishments/prison sentences for abusers should be much harsher and, in this particular case, I can only hope the father’s application for full custody is successful. A sad story all round.
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Its shaken the community so much that they want to shake the mother who has gone into hiding. I pray the same. For now Baby Gabby will be put in foster care. 😦
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it is disgusting how we as woman we can turn in to monsters in the sake of pleading boyfriends who don’t even really love us. The lengths we are willing to take just for their approval and sense love. It makes me worry about her mental state, is she even human? Do the hours of labour pain mean nothing to her? We really need to take a stand as the country, such doings should not be forgiven by law.
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Now it is attempted murder, She is on the run. The community demands justice. You are right, Our Youth is our Future but with parents like this…. I have no other words except to say Sad, Sad, Sad all round.
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The man is putrid. The woman is pathetic. Neither deserves freedom. I hope the child lives long and well, with a loving father to compensate, at least somewhat, for the horror she endured.
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I absolutely agree with you!
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Such people don’t deserve to be called parents.
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True.♡
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Its so heartbreaking to hear about such incidents. Yesterday, I saw something similar whereby a nanny was recorded by a secret camera abusing a 1 and 1/2 month baby, kicking the little girl in the face. I don’t understand how people do such things. So inhuman and disgusting. I pray that the child fully recovers and finds love in the father’s home.
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Di, im sorry to say this but that biological did a radio interview. The interviewer cried. The father was not emotionally perturbed. He obviously wrote that child off when he wrote the relationship off. I feel pained to say that i don’t think much of him…and this is me being kind and tactful here. I pray that he does not get his child back, that she is adopted into a loving home worthy of raising children. 😦
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Sad state of affiars. Sometimes I feel that animals are much better than us human beings.
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Animals ARE better. No agendas. No spite. Just unconditional love.
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Yes.
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Seriously a feel of disgust climbs up my veins as I read this post. Innocent children being victim to abuse for no mistake of theirs but just used as some plush toys to vent their anger on. This issue needs high attention worldwide
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I agree. Our neighbourhood watch just posted this now …
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This is what they said.
..
Human Trafficking…
WARNING & ADVICE: IMPORTANT
“People I need to share something with you and I hope and pray that every person who has a child or grandchild will read this message although it is a bit long”
I had the opportunity to meet the lady that is in charge of the Organisation that fight HUMAN TRAFFICKING in South Africa, and believe me your hair will stand up when you hear what is going on in our country.
1. Did you know that in South Africa a child gets stolen every 30 seconds to be kidnapped for the sex industry?
2. The popular ages are between 4 and 12 years and then between 16 and 22 years.
3. NOW YOU BETTER SIT DOWN: When a child is stolen, he/ she exchange hands 21 times within 5 minutes. They do this to wipe out the tracks that can lead to the child. You will NEVER see that child again.
4. They immediately paralyse the child with an injection so the child can’t make a sound.
5. Small children are passed on by hand. Bigger children are put in a wheelchair and covered with a blanket so everyone will think it is a disabled child.
6. The whole time the child is aware of what is going on around him/ her but are unable to move or make a sound.
7. Within 12 hours the child is loaded in a container with only a bottle of water. About 140 kids fits into one container with no sanitary facilities or ventilation.
8. The containers are then shipped and it takes about 21 days to reach Thailand, China or Japan. The whole time that children are locked in that container. About 4 of the 140 children survive.
9. The sindicates work on 2 survivers per shipment. They say a child is about a 7 milion income in a 5 year period. After that the child’s time is up and they throw them in the sea for the sharks to finish their dirty work.
10. DONT’S ===
☆ Don’t send your child to the shop or the cafe alone.
☆ Keep your child close to you in the Malls and don’t let them out of your sight.
☆ Don’t let another child look after your child. Children don’t have that sense of responsibility.
11. THE MOST POPULAR TIME AND PLACES TO STEAL CHILDREN ARE IN THE MORNINGS ON THEIR WAY TO SCHOOL, IN THE AFTERNOON ON THEIR WAY BACK HOME, WEEKENDS IN JOLLS AND IN MALLS.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share this with as many parents and grandparents as possible. Our childrens lives are at stake here. It sounds like a horror movie but we live in a SICK world with many “sick” people in it.
********************** ABOVE IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO READ… PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THE SIGNS.
Received and forward it as it is.
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nice article
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This is such a sad story.
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Nice article KFB
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