Durban -
An illegal immigrant who threw a 6-month-old baby girl on to a metal frame of a bed more than once after learning the child was not his, has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by a Durban magistrate.
Magistrate Anand Maharaj said the courts needed to make an example of adults who inflict life-threatening injuries on children.
The 33-year-old Mozambican, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, was arrested on October 2 by the SAPS family violence and child protection unit in Chatsworth, after the mother had taken her child to RK Khan Hospital.
She testified in the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday that her boyfriend had assaulted the baby on two occasions at a Chatsworth informal settlement where they were living.
She said they had constantly quarrelled and during an argument on September 27, he became so angry that he grabbed her daughter and threw her against the bed frame.
She said he did this on more than one occasion after she told him the child was not his.
A medical examination of the baby by the hospital’s paediatrician and a CT scan showed multiple fractures of the head. The baby’s left arm and forearm, left fingers, left ribs and right thigh were also fractured.
During argument on Thursday, the defence attorney claimed that the mother, also from Mozambique, had not looked after the child properly and the child might have been injured while crossing the border. He claimed the mother had fabricated her testimony.
Injured ribs
However, Maharaj
said that if the mother was dishonest she could have testified that her boyfriend had thrown the child on the wall or the floor. “From her demeanour I don’t think she fabricated her story,” he said.
He said the child’s injuries were severe. “The injured ribs of the child could have penetrated internal organs leading to death.”
During sentencing Maharaj emphasised the importance of the rights of children in the constitution
.
“Whether the child is his or not does not matter. that type of treatment cannot be justified,” he said.
“I am surprised the child is still alive. Credit must be given to the medical practitioners at RK Khan Hospital. This is a violent crime against a vulnerable child and the accused took advantage of the situation.”
Maharaj said the courts needed to make an example and could not condone violent acts on people, especially children.
“The accused also seems to enter and leave the country at will without being caught,” he said, asking how it was possible that the man was able to enter South Africa illegally and live here for 14 years without anyone finding out.
The investigating officer from the specialised unit, Constable Sherwin Sewpersad, confirmed that once the baby had made a full recovery, she and the mother would face deportation back to Mozambique.
The manager of Childline’s national office, Joan van Niekerk, said the harshness of any sentence would depend on the nature or severity of the injury to the child.
She called for more rehabilitation programmes to be introduced at all correctional facilities.
“If a child ends up with a long-term disability then a 15-year sentence is not so harsh because we have to bear in mind that most offenders do not serve their entire sentences,” she told the Daily News later.
“There also needs to be much more work done informing our adults and teaching our children on how to deal with anger.”
Daily News