Police blamed for neglecting child abuse case leading to baby’s death
Apart from the death of a baby, there were also allegations of sexual assault, child abuse, and child neglect opened at the Pretoria North police station against the parents of a toddler, with nothing coming of it for half a year
File image for illustration.
Seven months after Sinoville Crisis Centre (SCC) counsellors reported the suspicious death of a baby and the alleged abuse of five other children to the Pretoria North police, “nothing has happened”.
Pretoria North Rekord reports that Crisis centre CEO Colleen Strauss said community members contacted the police after the death of the month-old baby.
Apart from the baby’s death, there were also allegations of sexual assault, child abuse and child neglect opened at the Pretoria North police station against the parents of the toddler, namely their biological mother and her boyfriend.
“There is evidence that they only had instant porridge to eat with no other food during the day. They were not even bathed,” Strauss said.
The children were also taken out of school after the couple was reported to the social services.
According to Strauss, the children got into trouble with the parents for “eating too much” and were responsible for taking care of the infant since his birth.
“Pornographic pictures were also taken of children posted on a website,” she said.
The case was opened on 15 November 2019, and according to Strauss, no statements have been taken by the police to date.
“The police have thus far made no further contact with the complainant, nor have they taken statements from any other community members.”
It was is another “classic example” in which the system failed child victims, said Strauss.
She said the crisis centre has repeatedly written letters to police, asking when statements would be obtained.
“All our inquiries were ignored.
“According to the information obtained by the centre, the mother and her boyfriend were previously reported, however, there is no record of cases registered or inquiries opened by police. Had it been done back then and a proper investigation and intervention were made, the baby might still have been alive today.”
The centre demanded police assign a senior official to investigate the matter and obtain statements.
Rekord has sent several inquiries to police since last week, which were still unanswered at the time of going to print.
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