Pastor who provided support to bury his own

Jeremiah Ruiters was allegedly beaten and stabbed to death by his mom’s boyfriend in Kensington.

Jeremiah Ruiters was allegedly beaten and stabbed to death by his mom’s boyfriend in Kensington.

Published Jun 15, 2017

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Cape Town - As a community pastor he has comforted families and helped bury many children who were murdered. Now he is preparing to bury his own grandson, killed allegedly by his mother’s boyfriend.

Yesterday, the mother of 18-month-old Jeremiah Ruiters, Abigail Ruiters, 30, and Ameer Petersen, 28, from Factreton near Kensington, appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court. Petersen was charged with murder and Ruiters for child neglect.

The couple has been together for a year. Petersen continuously looked at his girlfriend as they appeared in the dock next to each other. Petersen had a blue blanket wrapped around him with only black socks on. It is alleged that he slit his wrists while in prison in an attempt to commit suicide.

The prosecutor, Ebrahim Adams, said that Petersen would be moved to the hospital section of Pollsmoor Prison. Both Petersen and Ruiters applied for legal aid.

In court, Petersen said: “I would like to speak to an attorney.”

The couple will remain in custody in Pollsmoor Prison until June 21 when they will appear in court again.

Ruiters will not be able to attend her child’s funeral.

Ronald Ruiters is a well-known pastor on the Cape Flats.

“I felt that the parents needed support, like I need now. It is painful. I can only imagine what Courtney Pieters’s mom went through. Now I will be burying my own grandchild. I hope that this is an eye-opener for the people of the Western Cape. How could you kill a child?

“The last three months have been difficult for Jeremiah. He was in the hospital with a fractured arm. We still cannot believe what happened. He (Ameer) was a quiet guy. We are broken. Jeremiah was such a lovely child.”

He said that Jeremiah was dead on arrival when Petersen took him to the hospital.

The police have also cordoned off a wendy house in Factreton and it was declared a murder scene. It is where Petersen stayed with the child’s mother.

“Justice must be done. But I think that Abigail should get bail because she left the child in the care of a person who she saw as a father figure to Jeremiah. We will be going to the morgue to identify the child’s body. It is not known yet what caused his death,” Ruiters said.

Cape Argus

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