In a dramatic rescue, the 11-year-old deaf Phoenix girl who alerted neighbours through sign language that her grandmother had been brutally attacked, allegedly by a person known to her, has been removed from her home by authorities.
The window of the home she lived in with her mother and granny had to be removed by the police and staff of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development last week because all doors and gates were locked.
The mother was at work at the time.
According to a neighbour, the girl was excited to be removed from her home – until she realised what was going on.
“It was 31 degrees on Wednesday so naturally she was happy to get out the house. However, when she was being taken into the van she began to cry and hold on to me so some of my family members had to leave with her.”
The woman said she was happy the girl was taken away because she would now be safe.
When a POST team went to the house on Monday last week, the girl was locked in, alone, as her mother was at work.
She had written several notes to her neighbour, one saying: “Wheeeee! It’s such a beautiful day to be outside!”
The neighbour said she was concerned about the girl’s safety in any emergency. “If there is a fire in the house, she would not be able to hear it and could be trapped inside.”
The child did not attend school, but just stood looking out of her window all day, she had said.
“If it is hot, she will put on a hat and burn in the sun but she won’t move from the window till her mother is home after 6pm.”
This week the neighbour said: “My one worry is for the safety of this girl and her development. She could finally be put back into school and be able to better herself because she is very bright.”
She said the granny had been in a critical condition last week. “Her sugar level had dropped and her pressure had increased. She was not responding to the doctors, so close family members had been called in and her daughter was, too.”
The 61-year-old pensioner, who was initially taken to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, is due for an operation this week and was transferred to Addington Hospital.
Left at home while her mother went to work at a call centre last month, the girl had tried frantically to indicate that her granny had been badly injured and was lying on the floor, unable to move.
The granny had suffered a dislocated knee and her pelvic bone had been broken, according to paramedics. She had apparently been assaulted with a mop handle.
“The girl signalled to us that her granny had been hit and told us where she had been hit. We called 10111 immediately,” the neighbour had said.
The neighbour added that she knew something had been terribly wrong because of the commotion her family had heard the night before. “There was a lot of screaming and shouting and we could hear the granny being hit.”
Ncumisa Mdelu of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development confirmed the child was in protective custody in a place of safety and in school again. “We do not just remove children. We saw that she had been in danger and had to be
removed.”