Fourteen-year-old Patrick abused a child – even though he is still a child. He is not unique. Shockingly, more than half of those who abuse children are teens or even younger.
Patrick’s story is tragic. His violent father left when he was just seven. Since then his role models have been the steady stream of abusive boyfriends who beat up his often inebriated mother and abused both him and his younger half-sister. His victims have been fellow pupils at school.
John’s story is a variation on this theme. “When I was six years old, my father tried to kill my family. He locked us in the house and said ‘I will kill everyone’. My father hit my brother with a stick and then he hit my mother and said ‘Watch your children die’.” John, like many other adolescents, found support in gangs which are believed to be the main perpetrators of child-on-child violence in KZN.
According to Childline KZN director Linda Naidoo more than half of child abusers (52 to 65 percent) in KZN are under 18.
When it comes to child rape and abuse, statistics are inaccurate. According to the UN, South Africa has one of the highest incidences of child rape worldwide. Abuse affects five out of every seven children.
However, there’s also a culture of not reporting – the South African Police Services estimates just one in 20 to 35 rapes is reported – and a moratorium on releasing crime statistics.
A study by the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town said 400 000 to 500 000 children were abused annually, while a 2009 Medical Research Council survey revealed that 25 percent of SA men had raped. Of these, three-quarters “attacked for the first time” during their teens.
A policy document released by the council warned against inter-generational cycling of violence, pointing out that girls exposed to physical, sexual and emotional trauma as children were at increased risk of revictimisation, while boys had increased chances of being violent. Childhood trauma reduced their ability to form emotional attachments and empathise and promoted psychopathic behaviour.
Lisa Parsee, executive director of Child Welfare Durban and District, confirmed that child-on-child abuse was a growing concern. While violence within schools had grown to the point where some were losing control, the real problem started with the complete breakdown of the family.
This was illustrated by a recent case where a 12-year-old was caught having sex with a cat.
She also warned that the damage that could be done by a single aberrant youngster should never be overlooked – a teenager had recently been apprehended after abusing more than 30 children in Durban North.
Naidoo’s research showed dysfunctional families were the root of abuse. “We send abused mothers off to get interdicts, divorces or even maintenance – but everyone forgets about the children.
They are the passive recipients and observers.
Children internalise aggression.
“They resort to abuse to heal and restore themselves. A child who was constantly beaten up by his mother told me that the only way he found relief was to sodomise the little boy next door,” she explained.
When coupled with physically and emotionally absent parents – either through substance abuse or abandonment – children are particularly vulnerable. She said in Lamontville alcohol abuse and the drug wunga – a mix of antiretrovirals, cannabis, detergent and rat poison – resulted in growing crime and violence.
Parsee also warned that shacks that accommodated whole families in a single room or small, low-cost houses were the training grounds for young offenders.
However, Naidoo said, child-on-child abuse was found in all areas, cultures and income groups.
Children displayed such behaviour in trendy suburbs such as Kloof and Hillcrest, and middle to lower-income homes in Pinetown, Phoenix and Chatsworth.
Her research showed about 95 percent of child abusers were male.
“Being masculine can be very difficult for a child. We often empower girls when it comes to family trauma, but we alienate boys and ignore them. Girls talk about things, boys don’t. It’s a case of boys don’t cry. Instead, they repress their feelings. As a result, Childline works hard to rehabilitate young boys through its Boy Child programme.”
Naidoo’s study of adolescent sexual offenders revealed that potential victims were under the age of eight, 74 percent were female and 57 percent were exposed to sodomy or rape. At least 92 percent of abusers knew their victims and 36 percent of the perpetrators were brothers.
Naidoo said one of the most horrific cases she encountered involved a teenager who had abused his six-year-old brother for three years.
He began sexual activities with children while still in primary school and also sodomised an infant cousin twice and tried to rape another.
He either bullied or bribed his peers.
Yet, for Naidoo, the true tragedy is the degree of abuse to which these children themselves are exposed.
More than 90 percent were victims of emotional abuse, close to 80 percent were sexually abused and more than 60 percent were physically abused.
Naidoo added that a ready supply of pornography was often found in affluent households where there was access to greater resources including DVDs, cellphones and the internet.
In one instance, she said, a little boy who had viewed pornography from the age of four grew up believing he could do the same thing, simply because “the people in the pictures were real people like myself”.