McBride’s daughter speaks out, says he ‘did punch, strangle me’

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) boss Robert McBride’s daughter has denied all the claims he made in his statement where he identified the close family member whom he was alleged to have assaulted as his daughter.

Speaking to the media with her mother Natasha Emmanuel present for the first time since McBride’s statement dropped on Saturday, the teenager said she had drafted her statement on her own without any assistance from her mother or friends and remained resolute McBride had assaulted her.

“He did hit me. I maintain that. He was punching me while the car was moving and we were stationary while he was strangling me,” the teen said.

“His reason for ‘admonishing’ me was that he needed to wake up early. The discussion we were having wasn’t anything to do with my marks and he uses the word ‘admonishing’, but I am saying he hit me. That’s the truth and I maintain that.”

She said in his response McBride said he had custody of her. However, she denied he had legal custody of her.

“I decided to move in with him two years ago but there were no legal changes made. My mom is still my legal custodian,” she said.

Emmanuel confirmed she had full legal custody of her daughter.

“She was only staying with McBride because I had lost my job and couldn’t afford her schooling, I never handed over custody,” Emmanuel said.

“My child asked if she could lay a charge against McBride, and I gave permission for her to do so. He’s been assaulting my daughter for two years,” claimed Emmanuel.

“It was only a temporary arrangement until I obtained gainful employment; there was no neglect as has been suggested. This is a 15-year-old girl who was punched in the face four times by a 55-year-old man with military training who then threatened to kill her,” Emmanuel said vehemently.

McBride’s daughter said she had moved from Cape Town to a local school as it was a school she had done particularly well in.

“I was doing really well in sport and academics in the Gauteng school, whereas in Cape Town it was difficult to make friends and I wasn’t doing so well. I reached out to my father; I was never neglected, he never rescued me,” the teen said.

She stated he had made it conditional that, if she lived with him, she could attend her old high school. It was while she was attending her favourite school that he allegedly applied to a school closer to Pretoria, apparently without her knowledge.

It was then her marks started dipping with the change in schools and systems.

“But then I had a tutor from the school and my marks improved again so I always maintained decent marks. He said they dropped because of bad influence from my mom, but it was because I was struggling to deal with his treatment,” she said.

“It was him and I living alone and he was hitting me. Often. And I was struggling to deal with that; I was juggling school, sport and an abusive father. Because of how much he worked, I was doing it on my own.

“I was studying on my own, I was disciplined, I had my own programme set out, it was difficult for me to manage and I started to become depressed, I wasn’t dealing with anything well.”

She said she blamed McBride because he had made it difficult for her to deal with.

“It was in the car I received the most physical abuse; we never spoke other than that. I go to sleep when we arrive home; the only time we got to converse was in the car. So as much as he is saying it was impossible for him to hit me, I’m saying it was very much possible. I’m not going to be bullied into changing my statement because he said it was impossible. It’s possible because it happened. I want that to be highlighted,” the teenager claimed.

“I don’t like being called a liar. We’re taught to speak out about violence and, when I read his statement I felt as if I was being silenced because he was basically calling me a liar. You’re supposed to be able to defend yourself, but when someone with power calls you a liar you feel like you’re silenced, and that made me angry.”

McBride’s daughter said he had barely looked at her when he left the house, telling them to pack their bags, and was preoccupied with his phone.

“We didn’t have direct conversation; it was me responding from the room or from the bathroom, so he wouldn’t have seen the injuries because he never looked me in the face.

“The injuries were there, the photos were taken directly after it happened,” she said, adding her little sister had been traumatised by everything she had seen while in the car with McBride and her sister.

The teenager was furious her father had apparently gone through her cupboard and personal effects to find “expressive letters or notes”.

“This implies to me that he is desperate. It’s also an invasion of my privacy. I’m not a drug addict, I’m not on drugs, I don’t do any drugs; that is the truth, that is what I’m saying right now,” she said.

McBride claimed on Saturday night the letter he found stated his daughter was suicidal.

“I have many times wanted to end my life and that’s because of him. I couldn’t deal with the pressure, with the way I felt so stuck and I could never get away from him; he was my only support financially. I blame him for that.”

She said after McBride had put that out in the media, she felt disrespected by him because that had always been private information.

McBride’s daughter disputed she was a rebellious child as claimed by him, saying she was scared of him.

“It’s ridiculous for him to claim that, as I did everything he said and my friends and family have heard me express my fear of getting into trouble with him. I followed all his rules, he’s had power over me and this process of speaking out is my way of taking my power back.

And that’s what this whole thing is about; it’s about me, it’s not about my friend’s mom, which is what the content of his response is dominated by. He barely speaks about me, but what I did was for me.”

She said her friend’s mother had tried to stop her opening the docket, but the teen had insisted.

“I want justice to be served for me, this is for my healing.”

McBride told The Citizen on Sunday he refused to comment on the allegations in order to protect his daughter.