Woman admits she did not help abused kids

A Springs mother yesterday admitted that she had forsaken her legal duty to protect her five children from her husband’s physical and emotional abuse. To questions by prosecutor Jennifer Cronje, the 38-year-old mother conceded that she had forsaken her legal duty to send her children to school, but said she did not know at the time that it was illegal not to send one’s children to school.

She nodded when asked if she knew that it was wrong to assault and neglect children and to expose them to drugs, but denied that she had sold drugs, although she knew her husband sold drugs and she also used drugs. She admitted that she had forsaken in her duty to protect her eldest daughter from being sexually abused and raped by her father.

The mother earlier testified how her husband had tortured their 11-year-old son from the age of five by hitting him with a knobkerrie and sjambok, stringing him up between pillars and making him hang their overnight, spraying him with teargas, punching him and burning him with a blowtorch.

She admitted all of her children were severely traumatised by the abuse and neglect but that she did nothing to prevent it. She conceded that she had a cellphone, car, tablet and bank cards and that she had at times left her husband, but insisted she was also a victim and was too afraid of him to go to the police.

The woman and her husband pleaded not guilty to a range of charges, including attempting to murder their 11-year-old son, child abuse, child neglect, drug dealing and failing to send their children to school. She denied that the abuse in their house started because she had a series of affairs with other men. She admitted telling her husband his brothers were the fathers of two of their children, but said it was a lie to prevent him from hitting her.

According to the woman her husband had injected himself with steroids. Asked if this did not cause impotence, she said he also used viagra and wanted sex “up to 10 times a day”.

Her husband started crying when she testified about the abuse in his parental home and their difficult financial situation after his mother shot his father and then herself.

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