Stephen “Foxy” Isaacs allegedly raped and assaulted a little girl so badly that she will never lead a normal life.
The girl suffered permanent brain damage when her alleged attacker strangled her until she passed out.
A doctor who specialises in brain injuries in children has told a court that the child was deprived of oxygen for too long.
Cops claim Isaacs kidnapped the little girl and dragged her into bushes near her Darling home where he viciously raped her, beat her, strangled her and burnt her with cigarettes.
The girl, who was only nine years old when she was attacked on October 22, 2010, managed to crawl out of the bushes where she was left for dead.
Two friends found her and summoned help.
Earlier this week, the child’s mother told the Western Cape High Court that her daughter was unable to walk when she was found. But she said the girl was able to tell her family who attacked her.
Three days later, her health started to deteriorate and she suffered post- traumatic seizures as the true extent of her injuries eventually kicked in.
On Wednesday, Doctor Ronald van Toorn told the court that the little girl will never lead a normal life and will never recover from her injuries.
He told Judge Lee Bozalek that he was first introduced to the girl the Monday after she was assaulted.
“She was awake and conscious but she was not able to speak,” said van Toorn.
He said she was able to answer his questions and communicate with him non-verbally.
Van Toorn told the court that he was concerned about her injuries but became very worried when the victim started displaying abnormal movements.
She was sent for a CT Scan the next morning and Van Toorn said he was surprised when the test results came back normal.
“It was very unexpected, her health was deteriorating and I requested an MRI scan,” Van Toorn told the court.
He added that the scan showed abnormalities in the brain and areas which had been severely damaged.
This pattern of damage was an indication of a lack of oxygen and lack of blood to the brain.
“This pattern of injury tells me there was a sudden lack of oxygen to the brain,” he said.
He explained that when a child or adult is hurt, the brain will normally send messages to the body to ensure the body’s major organs continued to get oxygen rich blood. But in the little girl’s case, the injury was so sudden, the brain didn’t have time to react.
He said this usually happens in near drowning cases, drug overdoses, when babies get stuck in the birth canal and were deprived of oxygen, when someone has a heart attack during surgery or during suffocation.
Van Toorn said the fact that she only started to deteriorate three days after she was assaulted was very unusual but not impossible.
“It happens in less than one percent of trauma cases,” said van Toorn.
He said it was found in cases of carbon monoxide poisoning and strangulation cases.
“Classic symptoms are the ones displayed [by the child],” he said.
“(On) The Monday she was able to express herself and answer yes and no but by Tuesday she was more sleepy and less responsive.
“She had a seizure and the brain cells that were injured causes tongue biting, confusion and jerking.”
He added the seizures affected the part of the little girl’s brain that is responsible for her eyesight.
But he was able to treat her with anti-epileptic medication that stopped the seizures and she was able to regain her vision after a few months.
Van Toorn said the girl will also suffer from her disability but will benefit from ongoing therapy.
*This article was published in the Daily Voice