UPDATE: Alleged crèche abuse case
RANDBURG – Father of a boy (3) who was allegedly abused at a Ferndale crèche speaks out after the case was dismissed.
Criminal action was instituted against two employees of Die Akkerboompie crèche in Ferndale for physical assault of a minor in February 2015 as previously reported in the Randburg Sun.
Four months later, the case was dismissed.
“The police officer leading the investigation phoned me on 22 June,” said Marius Marx, the father of the three-year-old boy. “He told me that the prosecutor at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court threw out our case. According to the report from The Teddy Bear Clinic in Krugersdorp, my son cannot speak well enough to say what happened to him. And we took too long to report the case with the police. We figured out what was going on by 12 February, on 13 February we moved our son to his current school, and on 16 February we lodged the complaint with the police. My wife and I are deeply distressed by this unsatisfactory outcome.”
The Teddy Bear Clinic (TTBC) explained that each child victim must undergo a forensic assessment and a psychological assessment to determine their reliability as a witness before a case can proceed to court.
In the forensic assessment, a social worker will engage the child through various techniques to elicit information regarding details of the alleged crime. These then need to be verified through collateral sources, such as eyewitnesses, and other people known to the victim.
In the psychological assessment, a psychologist will determine the child’s mental age, as opposed to their chronological age, which determines the child’s capacity to testify with regard to the alleged crime. If the child is found to be emotionally immature, and unable to withstand leading questions, they will not be a credible witness, and the case will be dropped.
Therapeutic counselling for the child at TTBC will help reduce tension and alleviate any fear and anxiety that the child may have. Supportive counselling for the parents or caregivers of the child will help them to support the child through the process.
As part of their outreach programme, TTBC runs a school awareness programme which teaches children about their rights and responsibilities, and educators about how to manage cases of child abuse within the education system.
The attorney representing Die Akkerboompie in this case, Frederick Jansen van Rensburg, was contacted for a progress report on disciplinary action taken against the accused at the crèche, and comment is awaited.
