Pretoria - The horrific tale of how a 2-year-old boy was severely abused, several kettles of boiling water poured over him and being sjambokked across his raw, peeling skin, is unfolding in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
It is claimed that not only was little Mpho Tshehla subjected to this inhumane torture, but the State also alleges that chillies were inserted into his anus.
The little boy’s mother told Judge Eben Jordaan that her boyfriend Brian Buthelezi caused her son’s death.
He died the night after boiling water was poured onto him and after the accused allegedly locked the screaming boy in a bedroom.
Edith Tshehla said she sat with her crying baby in her arms until he stopped breathing. He died on August 11 last year.
But Buthelezi blamed his drunk girlfriend for the baby’s death. He pleaded not guilty to murder, assault with the intention to do grievous bodily harm and child abuse.
Buthelezi said the mother and child occasionally stayed with him. The mother did not care for the baby and used her social grant money to buy alcohol, he said. She never fed the baby, nor did she buy nappies.
He said he had to feed and bathe the boy when he came from work, as the mother was always drunk.
The court was told how two days before the boy’s death, the mother came home drunk after midnight, reeking of alcohol and dagga. The child was out with her and her friends that night.
When they went to bed later, he noticed the child was not wearing a nappy. He said the mother then wrapped the child in a refuse bag.
He gave her R200 the following day to buy nappies and food, but when he came back from work, she had used the money for alcohol.
Buthelezi said the child was filthy and he fed and bathed him. He said they did not have a bathroom or warm water and he boiled kettles and poured the water in a dish, together with cold water.
After bathing the boy, they went to bed. The following evening, when he came back from work, his girlfriend showed him that the child had burnt. He said she explained that she was going to take a bath and poured boiling water into a dish. She was outside to collect cold water, when she heard the child screaming.
Buthelezi said he promised that they would buy some medicine to put on the wounds the next day.
“I could see he was in pain and he cried the entire night.”
When he returned from work the following day, he found the child dead on the sofa. His body was wrapped in a blanket and Buthelezi said he for the first time saw how bad the wounds actually were. His girlfriend had a different story to tell.
According to her, Buthelezi poured three boiling kettles of water, with salt inside, over the child’s head. The child’s skin was peeled off from the water, but he locked the screaming boy in a room.
The mother, without any emotion, explained how he later flogged the naked child with a sjambok.
She said she only managed to rescue the child out of the room the following day.
She held him in her arms until he stopped breathing.