A case of child abuse involving an Alex foster mother was postponed by the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court to enable further investigation.
The court heard that on 24 November, the accused, a pensioner, abused a six-year-old boy who she was given custody of several years ago.
She allegedly beat the victim after she accused him of stealing from her. The incident was reported to the police by the child’s school teachers after they noticed bruises on his body. The teachers claimed the child was afraid to report the incident for fear of his caretaker.
The police took the child to social workers who took him for a medical examination and thereafter to a place of safety.
The social worker’s report, based on the child’s evidence, was that the accused beat him with a stick, threw him to the floor injuring his head and squeezed his neck. The hospital’s examination report noted other multiple scars on the child which are consistent with possible long-term abuse.
