Mom accused of murder

Judge Collin Matshitse will deliver his judgment on Thursday.

Judge Collin Matshitse will deliver his judgment on Thursday.

Published Dec 19, 2018

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Horrific details emerged in court of the excruciating manner in which 3-year-old baby Daniel* died, allegedly at the hands of his mother and her lover, in June 2016.

“The entirety of the burn wounds were inflicted while (Daniel) was alive. A 60% surface area burn would result in significant loss of fluids. The pain experienced in sustaining such wounds would be catastrophic.”

These were the painful details contained in prosecutor Steven Rubin’s heads of argument, which were presented at the South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday.

Judge Collin Matshitse said he would deliver his judgment Thursday. 

Advocate Rubin argued that Maryke*, Daniel’s mother, and Timothy*, who had parental responsibilities and rights over the boy, should be convicted of child abuse and murder for the gruesome torture and killing of the child.

Daniel died a day after, according to Timothy, he accidentally fell into a bathtub filled with hot water. Maryke said she first heard of her child falling into the hot water when Timothy explained this to the police.

It also emerged in court that Daniel, at the time of his death, had a slew of ghastly injuries caused by suspected torture on his body, which included:

15 separate blunt-force injuries, ranging from moderate to large force;

The blunt-force injuries ranged in degrees of age, with several inflicted between 24 and 48 hours prior to the boy’s death;

Daniel’s burn wounds were inflicted a minimum of 12 hours before his death; and

Although possible, it was highly improbable that Daniel suffered a fractured rib as a result of attempts to resuscitate him.

Timothy's version is that the broken bones were caused by Daniel falling off a tree and off his bike, while he attributed the bruises to the boy slamming into a wall.

Maryke said she accepted Timothy's explanation on how Daniel suffered his injuries, and said she only noticed the burn wounds the day after the child was subsumed by hot water.

Judge Matshitse grilled the accused and questioned the negligence of the parents, which supposedly led to the boy’s gruesome death.

“Between February and March in 2016 the child had a broken elbow after falling off a tree. All the time Maryke didn’t see that the child was injured. She only became aware (of the injuries) when Timothy told the child’s biological father and the police that the child had fallen into a bath.

“As a caring mother, it didn’t raise any eyebrows in her mind that the child was injured?” the judge asked Maryke’s lawyer, advocate HW Smith.

Smith was dumbfounded following the question, and said he had no response.

Maryke is out on bail and Timothy is in custody.

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