Pretoria - Sipho Nkosi, who is accused of slitting the throat of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old daughter, abandoned his bail application after making his first court appearance at the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Nkosi, instead of pursuing bail proceedings, asked the court that his family be accompanied to fetch his belongings at his girlfriend’s house. He was remanded in custody.
Community structures and organisations joined members of the public outside the court to support the family of the Grade 2 victim.
Nkosi is facing an attempted murder charge for the incident, which occurred in April. The 8-year-old survived the ordeal and was rushed to Mamelodi Hospital after neighbours came to her rescue when they heard her screaming loudly.
Nkosi, from Section A in Mamelodi East, and the mother of the minor are believed to be in a romantic relationship. It is claimed that they had an argument while attending a funeral. He then went to her house to try to work things out.
But the mother had gone to a car wash, leaving the child with her grandmother.
Nkosi allegedly took a butcher’s knife from the kitchen and slit the child’s throat.
The accused was arrested after he handed himself over at the Hammanskraal police station.
Community members, lobby group Not In My Name and other organisations gathered outside the court yesterday to express their outrage.
Yesterday, the child’s father said the fight would continue as he would do everything in his power to make sure Nkosi was denied bail.
“I would like to thank the community and the organisations that came to support us. We hear that there are many cases against him, and the police are investigating those cases.
“I am happy that the police finally arrested him, as they have been looking for him since 2019 for a gender-based violence case against him. It seems that this is what he likes to do against women and children.”
The minor has been discharged from hospital into the care of social workers and is seeing psychologists. She is able to speak, but not properly.
Themba Masango, of Not In My Name, addressed the crowd outside court, and said that when a child was victimised it affected everyone. He said we were all South Africans before being affiliated to any organisation.
“We must stand together as the community of Mamelodi to make sure that we get rid of these animals on our streets,” he said.
Masango said they would be there in numbers for the next court appearance on May 30.
Pretoria News