A Mpumalanga woman says she can’t stop crying when she looks at her seven-year-old son who was allegedly raped and forced to watch pornographic videos by a neighbour.
The abuse allegedly came to light when other children were playing in the neighbour’s yard but the boy was seated outside the gate by himself. When he was asked why he was not joining his friends, he is alleged to have said that he was scared that the man would hurt him again.
Police were informed, and the 35-year-old man was arrested. He made his second appearance in court on Thursday and is set to appear again on Tuesday for bail.
“What pains me is that an old man had to prey on my child, and now my child is not OK,” the boy’s mother said. “He’s always in agony and doesn’t play with other kids as normal.”
She said the alleged rapist lives in a rented property next door to her house and that groups of children usually play in his yard.
It is alleged that he used to call the boy to his room, separating him from the other children.
“What he told us was that the man would call him to his room and give him a cellphone to watch naked men and women performing sex.
“The man then started touching him and sexually abused him,” the mother said.
It is not known how long the abuse went on for. The boy’s mother only found out when a female neighbour asked the boy why he was not joining his friends in play and he told her he was scared the man would “call and hurt him again”, his mother said.
“As he stays with my mother, I had to leave work and take him to the police. We later went to hospital, where doctors confirmed penetration.”
NPA spokesperson in Mpumalanga Monica Nyuswa said the man faces a rape charge.
He is set to appear in court again on Tuesday for a bail application, which the state is set to oppose, she said.
During the man’s court appearance, community members came in numbers holding placards against child abuse and that the suspect should not be granted bail.
