Kimberley - The 14-year-old boy who was severely beaten with a sjambok and knobkierrie and was tortured with a pair of pliers in his genital area, has vowed to kill the perpetrators if they are not dealt with by the law.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Olebogeng Tawana said the police expected to make an arrest on Monday night on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Ndzilili Gouws said he had to receive medical treatment at the Kimberley Hospital, after he was assaulted for about an hour by six men, after he was abducted from his workplace on Sunday.
“I am not afraid and I will not hesitate to call my Somali friends for help because they are already baying for revenge after these men tried to kill me.”
He has cuts, lash marks and bruises on his back, gums, hands, arms and head and stated that he was kicked all over his body and head.
The teenager said that he was falsely accused of stealing dagga and was forced to get into a car by the suspected drug dealer.
“I was mixing concrete and had not eaten that whole day, so I did not have much energy. The drug dealer forced me into his car and he drove to his house. They accused me of stealing engine parts, R4 000 cash and dagga. I am in the process of being trained to become a Moulana (Muslim priest) and the use of drugs and dagga is against my religion.”
He added that he was locked inside a house in Stone Street in Galeshewe where he was assaulted with a sjambok.
“I tried to defend myself when they hit me over the head. I collapsed to the floor and they proceeded to kick me. A man with a gold tooth tried to grip my genitals with a pair of pliers by pinching and twisting it but I punched him twice in the stomach. He narrowly missed crushing my testicles and only succeeded in grabbing the skin.”
His punishment came to an end when his aunt and uncle came to rescue him whereupon he said the suspects hid the sjambok and a knobkierrie that was used to assault him.
His aunt said she was worried that the suspects would kill the boy and throw his body in the veld. Both she and the boy’s father have advised him not to seek revenge but to leave the suspects to be dealt with by the authorities.
He added that the drug dealer was falsely informed about his involvement in the alleged theft.
Gouws said he had a brief encounter with a group of the young boys in the neighbourhood, who gave him R5 and a drink for making a fire.
“They offered to bring me dagga, but I told them I wanted nothing to do with drugs and the trouble they would get me into. I put the fire out and told them to leave. One of the boys slept on a blanket outside my house and the one boy said that his uncle assaulted him.”
On another occasion he exchanged and sold a spinning top with one of the boys for R1.
“After that I never saw them again.”
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