Cape Town – The Justice Ministry has called for harsher penalties to be imposed on child killers as a Facreton mother and her boyfriend have been charged in connection with the murder of her 18-month-old son.
The murder of Jeremiah Ruiters this week brings to 21 the total number of children killed in the Western Cape since the start of the year.
While Jeremiah’s mother, 30, has been charged under the Children’s Act, her boyfriend, a 26-year-old man, has been charged with murder.
The duo are expected to make their first appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Jeremiah’s grandmother, Gail Ruiters said her grandson had been left in the man’s custody when she and her daughter went to work on Monday.
“Later in the day I got a call to tell me that my grandson had been killed. They told me my daughter’s boyfriend took the child to the day hospital, but when he got there the child was dead.
“He said the child went into a fit. Jeremiah had injuries to his head and body. My daughter’s boyfriend was later arrested in connection with the matter.
“When my daughter got home she went hysterical and asked her boyfriend if he had killed her child. He is not the child’s father. On that specific morning, Jeremiah was crying, wanting to come with me. That was the last time I saw him.”
Last week, the body of Minentle Lekhakha, 5, was found in Strand after she went missing. Last month, 3-year-old Courtney Pieters was killed in Elsies River.
Stacha Arends, 11, from Mitchells Plain and Rene-Tracy Roman, 13, from Lavender Hill, were killed in recent months.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development will be hosting an imbizo on sexual violence and abuse in Khayelitsha, on Friday. Spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said the imbizo was necessitated by the findings of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on violence against women and children.
“We believe the imbizo will empower the communities of Elsies River, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.
“This scourge of violence against children requires an aggressive stance. The police need to intensify their investigations and harsher sentences (are) needed. In this way we can address the scourge of violence,” Mhaga said.
Ilitha Labantu, in collaboration with other civil society organisations, will march to Parliament on Wednesday in the #OneTooManySA pledge campaign in response to the spike in violence against women and girls.
They will hand over a memorandum and petitions signed by concerned citizens from Khayelitsha, Langa, Nyanga, Gugulethu and other areas in the greater Cape Flats to officials at Parliament.