“Come show your support at court.”
This was the call by a Cape Flats organisation to the public in support for a two-year-old girl from Eureka Estate who was rescued from a tik den after being repeatedly raped and beaten.
Members of the Bishop Lavis Action Community (Blac) protested outside the Goodwood Magistrate's Court on Tuesday calling for the bail application by suspect Ursula Paste, 30, to be denied.
Paste, the house’s owner and a friend of the toddler’s mom, was arrested in February after the child was rescued by community worker, Debbie van Rensburg.
The hero ouma says the tot was left at Paste’s home in Craig Street and neighbours discovered the child was being abused, allegedly by the 30-year-old woman and her friends.
Paste faces sexual abuse and attempted murder charges after her own friend gave police a statement saying she witnessed the toddler being beaten and flung into a bath of dirty water.
She applied for bail and told the court the kid’s mother was responsible for the bite and burn marks, but the mom, who has spoken to the Daily Voice, has denied this, saying Paste and her friends beat her, threw her out and then kept her child because they wanted her SASSA money.
BEHIND BARS: Suspect Ursula Paste
Victor Altensteadt of Blac says they were horrified to learn of the case and have lobbied behind Debbie, while donations have poured in from car clubs and individuals who have named the child “Baby Nadia”.
“On Human Rights Day, we launched our Lavis for Nadia campaign and vowed to support Debbie,” he says.
“Nadia is not just any child, she represents all our children on the Cape Flats and Blac wants to show our support to the end. This is not just about saying ‘ai foeitog’ and moving on, people, we are calling for Ursula to be kept in custody and stand for her crimes.”
CAMPAIGN: Members of Bishop Lavis Action Community protest at Goodwood Magistrate's Court
The outcome of the bail application will be announced on Thursday.
Altensteadt adds: “Now we are calling on people to come and show support at court for Baby Nadia.
“The magistrates take note of the community’s response to cases like this and we already know that some of the people who reported her [Ursula] are her own friends, so we don’t want her influencing witnesses.
“We will go back to court on Thursday morning and protest again.”