Court asked to step in, in case of 12-year-old alcoholic rape survivor

A Free State advocate acting on behalf of an “incredibly vulnerable” 12-year-old girl – who was orphaned at five and raped at seven – has approached the court in a desperate bid to force the state’s hand and ensure the child gets the help she needs.

Identified in court papers only as ‘R,’ the girl has never been to school. She suffers with epilepsy and learning difficulties and is also addicted to snuff and alcohol. Her childhood has been marred by abuse and neglect and, says the advocate, the state has failed her.

She was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, into a violent home where she witnessed “extensive and graphic domestic violence between her parents”.

Following their deaths, she was placed in the care of her maternal grandparents under which she continued to be exposed to ongoing violence as well as alcohol abuse and was raped by a neighbour.

“Her grandmother emotionally and physically neglected her and frequently placed her safety at risk – for example, her grandmother let R attend at her perpetrator’s house to get food from his wife,” advocate Hasina Cassim, whom the court in 2018 appointed as the girl’s ‘curator ad litem,’ said in the papers.

Both of her grandparents have, however, since died and the girl’s aunt is currently fostering her. But said Cassim, her aunt was one of the people from whom the girl required protection.

“Under her care, R recently began drinking alcohol,” Cassim said.

She also said there were “serious concerns” about how her care dependency grant money was being spent. “Her basic needs, including food, hygiene and her emotional needs, are neglected by her family,” Cassim said.

Cassim has for the last two-and-a-half years been fighting tooth and nail to secure state assistance for the child but said she had been “wholly neglected” and “treated with contempt” by the provincial departments of social development, health and education.

The papers detailed how the efforts of Cassim – along with attorney Anjuli Maistry from the Centre for Child Law – to work with government, had effectively come to nought.

“That she is a child that has experienced abuse and neglect is common cause. When state institutions then perpetuate that abuse and neglect through not properly applying themselves to her cause, that conduct is inexcusable,” Cassim said.

“The government respondents have not provided her with the care and concern befitting of any child in this country, more so a child living in poverty with disabilities, who is out of school,” Cassim said.

Now Cassim wants the court to step in and issue an order directing the state to place the child in a temporary care facility immediately. She is also asking for an order that the child’s health issues be properly assessed and that she be placed at a local special needs school.

She pointed to the girl as being a child in need of care and protection in terms of the Children’s Act: “Because she is a child with behavioural difficulties; she is a child addicted to several dependence-producing substances; and because she is a child who lives in or is exposed to circumstances which may seriously harm her,” she said.

The case was set down to be heard this week but has since been postponed to next week.

In the meantime, the state has issued notices to abide by the court’s decision.

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