Pretoria - Wearing a skimpy top, woollen jacket and black slacks, the mother of five simply stood around the so-called Springs house of horrors while police frantically searched the premises.
The officers were looking for her 11-year-old son who had run to the neighbours after his father had severely assaulted him.
This was the evidence of Springs child protection unit member, Warrant Officer Rudi Jansen, the investigating officer in the case of the couple facing an array of charges relating to the alleged abuse and neglect of their children.
The alleged horrors committed at Plantation Road, Springs, only came to light after the neighbours alerted police about the injured boy - both his eyes were swollen closed and his face battered - when the desperate child tried to seek refuge with them.
His father, 36, went after the boy and took him back home, but the neighbours' call to the police brought an end to the years of alleged abuse and torture of the five siblings.
Both parents pleaded not guilty earlier this year to child abuse and neglect, attempted murder and drug related charges. The mother claimed she too was a victim of her husband.
Jansen testified that he visited the house with social workers on May 20, 2014, after receiving a call from the neighbours. The security guard at the gate would not let them in, but he called the mother, who came to meet them at the gate.
Inside the house he found the three younger children, aged between 1 and 5, with their sister, 16, on a filthy mattress in front of the television. “It looked as if they had just woken up. I asked the mother where her son was, but she could not give me a direct answer. She appeared confused,” Jansen said.
He testified that there was a foul smell in the house as he searched the various rooms, looking for the boy.
According to him, the kitchen was the worst. “It is difficult to describe, but it was filthy, with broken cupboards, a sticky floor and mice running around. There were also mouse droppings everywhere.”
Jansen said the bedrooms were also in disarray, especially the room which appeared to be the children’s room. The mattresses were standing along the wall, with no bedding, and it smelt of mice urine.
An array of pornographic material was also found in the main bedroom. “At a stage a big rat ran across the floor,” Jansen said.
He searched the entire house and the yard, but could not find the boy, he said. Meanwhile the father arrived and he introduced himself as the mother’s brother. Police only later discovered it was a lie.
As it was getting late and he could not find the boy, they removed the children from the house and placed them in a place of safety.
It appeared that while police were searching for the boy, he was allegedly hidden by his father in the ceiling of an outside room.
Louisa Roets, who lived in an outside room with her mother, testified the father brought the injured child to them. He had a towel around his head. “I removed the towel and saw that his eyes were swollen closed and his face severely bruised,” she said.
Roets said the boy was hidden in the ceiling of their room; and the father hid himself under a pile of washing on the bed. He later left and they gave the injured child, hidden in the ceiling, some water. “His eyes were so swollen he could not see.”
The police meanwhile arrived at their room to ask whether they had seen the child. Roets said she wanted to spill the beans, but her mother told her to keep quiet.
Towards the evening the father fetched his son and took him to family in Warden. The boy was so terrified when police fetched him there, that he begged them not to take him back home.
* The couple are not named in order to protect their children.
Pretoria News