‘My son wet himself as surgeon hit him’

A prominent Gauteng plastic surgeon is expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court next week on assault charges after he allegedly punched and slapped an eight-year-old boy so hard the child wet himself.

Photographs of the child supplied by the mother – neither of whom may be identified – show the boy with a large swollen bump on the right side of his head and various bruises and grazes about the left ear and cheekbone.

“My son is only eight years old; he’s very traumatised by this whole incident,” the mother told The Citizen.

“My son was playing with the doctor’s son in the play area of a restaurant in Ridgeway, south of Johannesburg. They were both on scooters, and my son accidently bumped his son, who began crying,” said the mother.

“I understand he then called his dad, who grabbed my son by the neck and started hitting him continuously across the face. It was quite a vicious assault from the doctor.”

The child was with his grandmother, uncle and aunt at the restaurant.

“My son was in such a state he actually wet himself. How do you hit a child in that manner?” said the mother.

When the child’s uncle intervened, the doctor then allegedly threw him to the floor and held him down by the neck.

According to a statement seen by The Citizen, that’s when the aunt tried to intervene. She stated she tried to push him off her husband and screamed for help, which is when the restaurant staff and a security guard escorted him off the premises.

The doctor, who also may not be named yet, is expected to appear in court on August 21.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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