SHARPEVILLE. – An Emmanuel Primary School learner Katleho Mofokeng (9) of Putswa Stena, Sharpeville lost his life over the weekend after apparently being severely beaten by his stepfather.
Katleho had allegedly stolen R200 from his stepfather, which resulted in the father beating him in an attempt to discipline him. Bereaved mother Malefu Mofokeng said she was still in shock over what had unfolded, leading to the death of her son. “Katleho’s father on Friday called me to ask about the missing money. When I told him I did not know anything about the money, he told me he suspected that the kids had stolen the money and he said he was going to beat them,” says the distraught mother adding that when she got home from work on Friday, she found Katleho in bed, shaking:
“I thought he was cold so I covered him with blankets. My husband told me that he had beaten him as he was the one who had stolen the money. At 03:00 in the early morning of Saturday, I heard my boy coughing, and I went to go and check on him.” The mother adds that she only realised that something was wrong with her son at about 06:00 the next morning when she checked up on him as she prepared to go to work. “Katleho had suddenly gotten very cold. I called the ambulance for him. When emergency personnel arrived, they declared my son dead. That’s when we all saw how badly he had been beaten. He had bruises all over his body. I asked them if there was anything they could do, but they told me that my son had died some four to five hours ago. My husband immediately put his hands on his head and asked, “What have I done?
“He was very remorseful.” Family spokesperson Millicent Moso says that the entire family was shocked and deeply hurt: “We know our brother to be a very calm person. This is very unlike him. We are sure he did not mean for things to turn out this way, which is why he surrendered to Police without resisting. We hope that we can get through this as a family.” The stepfather was arrested the same day.
