Kimberley - A “living hell”... this is how one Kimberley woman described her and her children’s abuse at the hands of her boyfriend.
He allegedly infected her with HIV, assaulted and left their baby son disabled and raped and impregnated her underage daughter.
Sitting in her shack in Phutanang, where she was looking after her daughter who was recovering from an abortion she underwent on Friday, as well as her son, who was left mentally and physically disabled after his father (the boyfriend) allegedly bashed his head with a rock when he was only three months old, the woman opened her heart and told the DFA about her eight-year-long abusive relationship.
The woman’s boyfriend was recently arrested on several charges, the details of which cannot be revealed because of the ongoing court case.
On Friday, the young girl had to undergo an abortion after doctors confirmed that she was four months pregnant.
Her mother said that she “felt like she was dying” after hearing that her eldest child had fallen pregnant, after allegedly being raped by the boyfriend.
She took her daughter to a local clinic to get checked out following a vaginal discharge.
“I noticed that my daughter’s tummy was growing... but we actually made fun of it and I never considered the possibility of her being pregnant because she is still so young.
“But when doctors confirmed that she was four months pregnant I was severely shocked. It felt like everything came crashing down and I thought I was dying,” she said.
She added that her daughter then took her into her confidence and told her what had happened. A man had raped her twice... coming into her room, pulling down her panties and forcing himself upon her after he smoked some “pills”.
He apparently threatened to kill the girl if she told anyone.
The mother said that the incident had left her daughter and herself “deeply traumatised”... but it was also the final straw in an eight-year-long abusive relationship.
She alleged that the man is not only responsible for the rape but also for “killing” their first child and for assaulting and leaving their second son severely disabled.
She said that the man kicked her in the stomach when she seven months pregnant with their first child, resulting in an emergency caesarean. The child lived for just three months after being born.
The man also allegedly hit their second child, who was three months old at the time, with a rock, leaving him with a massive scar on his head and brain damaged.
Several years later the boy is still unable to speak, walk or respond and doctors have indicated that his development will be adversely affected by the incident.
“I don’t know why God is punishing me. He also infected me with HIV. I chased him away several times, but he refused to leave and continued to harass and abuse me,” she said.
While she opened a case following the assault of the boy, the investigation has reached a “dead end”.
The emotional mother on Sunday pleaded with community members not to point fingers at her or her child... and they do not feel safe living at their home anymore.
“I do not want people to judge after my daughter underwent an abortion. There was just no way we could take care of the baby. I am unemployed and she is just still too small to give birth. No one but that man is at fault here.”
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