Cape Town - Alleged child killer Ameerodien Peters denied raping and killing 2-year-old Jeremiah Ruiters and claimed some of the injuries the toddler suffered were caused by a child of his co-accused.
Peters was answering questions put
to him by Yasmin Rajab, representing his
co-accused, Abigail Ruiters, in the
Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
The two are charged with raping and
murdering Jeremiah in Kensington
on June 12, 2017. Ruiters is also charged with child neglect.
According to the post-mortem report, Jeremiah suffered blunt force trauma to the spine, a cracked skull, broken ribs, a broken arm, injuries to his internal organs, rectum and penis, and had bite marks all over his body.
Earlier, pathologist Marna du Plessis said most of the injuries were inflicted 24 hours before the toddler’s death.
“On the day when Jeremiah broke his arm I was busy making noodles stew in the main house of Abigail’s mother. I was watching Jeremiah. I saw him standing on the table and saw him fall. He fell on the side of his face and arm.
Peters said: “There was a time when I saw Abigail’s daughter biting Jeremiah. The child didn’t want
Jeremiah near Abigail and pulled down his pants and pinched him. There were also times when she came in and hit
Jeremiah with her head.”
Peters was also questioned about his claim that while looking after Jeremiah, he at times left the toddler with a friend called Shakiel for periods of up to five hours.
He testified that he had informed Ruiters of this.
Rajab said: “My client said that you never told her that you had left Jeremiah with Shakiel, that she doesn’t know him and only heard about this Shakiel during your testimony on Tuesday. Abigail also said she never caused any injuries to Jeremiah.
“Jeremiah was in your care while Abigail worked seven days a week; you... are the only person that could have inflicted these wounds on the child.”
State prosecutor Maria Marshall’s cross-examination was halted by load shedding. However, she managed to put in some questions to the Peters and specifically asked him if he is sure that he is telling the truth in court. His response was a confident yes.
To a question about his qualification Peters said: “I studied boiler making at the University of Western Cape. It is a six year course and I’ve completed two years."