Beaufort West - A man accused of assaulting his girlfriend's two-year-old son appeared in the Beaufort West Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, Western Cape police said.
The matter was postponed to June 27 for a formal bail application, Captain Malcolm Pojie said.
The man is facing a charge of attempted murder.
He was arrested on May 17 after a local community radio station appealed for help finding him.
This was after the man allegedly kept his girlfriend and her child captive in their home in Khanya Street, Mandela Square, Beaufort West.
The woman managed to escape later, Pojie said.
“A witness account by the mother reveals that the suspect slapped and kick(ed) the boy in the face, burned his feet with boiling water, put a cement brick on the boy's chest, and stamped his feet on it and also forced the boy to eat his own faeces,” Pojie said.
People outside the home heard the mother cry and one of them broke a window to get into the house to rescue the child. The man then fled the scene.
“The child was transported to hospital by ambulance and immediately transferred to George hospital due to the severity of the injuries he sustained.
“The boy, who had undergone an emergency procedure at the George hospital, has shown satisfactory results although he is still in a serious condition,” Pojie said.
Sapa