Pretoria - Love letters were exchanged between the so-called Springs monster house couple during the first year of the man’s incarceration in jail, in which they proclaimed their “everlasting love” for each other.
The letters were this week handed in to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, as exhibits in the trial of the couple.
They are facing an array of charges, including the attempted murder of their then 11-year-old son, child abuse and neglect as well as drug related charges.
Both pleaded not guilty, with the mother saying she too, was abused by her husband and her hands were tied to come to her five children’s aid.
The letters, most written by the man, as his wife is said to be illiterate, contain messages of love, illustrated by hearts. There are also childish illustrations of stick figures, depicting the two of them holding hands.
In one of the letters the co-called “monster dad” said God loved them and as long as they devote their lives to him, they will be safe.
The love is clearly lost, as the couple sit far apart in court and do not even glance in each other's direction. The woman is said to be divorcing her husband.
Meanwhile a tenant who during 2014 lived in a flat in the double-storey Springs house testified on Thursday how the father had cuffed his son to a kitchen cupboard, while he and his wife left to spend the weekend in Durban.
According to the mother, the boy was cuffed to the cupboard because he was naughty. She, however, said soon after they left, her husband phoned someone to uncuff him.
A security guard, Gerhard Marais, who lived in a flat on the Springs premises told the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on Thursday that he uncuffed the boy sometime during the Friday afternoon, after the parents had left.
According to him another tenant on the premises, only identified as Uncle Kallie, and who had meanwhile passed away, asked him to uncuff the child.
Uncle Kallie on the Sunday then again cuffed the child to the cupboard, as he knew there would be trouble if the parents returned and the boy was not where they had left him.
Marais said when he got to the kitchen, the child was exhausted from standing with his arm in the air, fastened to the cupboard and by that time he sat on the ground.
The father, meanwhile, denied that he had cuffed his son to the cupboard and said the child often played with the cuffs, cuffing himself to things. According to him the cuffs are easy to open with a kitchen fork.
It is claimed that he subjected the boy to severe torturing over a number of years. The child testified behind closed doors about the treatment he was subjected to.
It is also claimed that his then 16-year-old sister was sexually abused and that the couple’s other three children, ranging between 2 and five at the time, were neglected.
The trial continues on Monday.
Pretoria News