Family tortures, locks up, starves girl (2) for 8 days

NHLANGANO – A heartless father and stepmother have tortured, starved and locked up a two-year-old girl for eight days and later claimed she was dead.

The incident, which happened at a time when the country is supposed to be advocating against such violence for the next 16 days, was discovered on Monday by by the child’s biological mother and her family members who had come for the funeral arrangements only to find her alive, but malnourished under a blanket of clothing.

The child is currently fighting for her life at Hlatikulu Government Hospital.

She was assaulted, allegedly by her stepmother, using a thorny stick all over the body before her biological father allegedly hid the bruised girl in a locked house for eight days.

It is still a mystery how the child survived, considering the days she spent in the locked house reportedly with nothing to eat. The incident took place at Kakholwane near Mkhondvo in the KaPhunga constituency. According to the child’s mother, Nothando Shabangu of Maseyisini, her daughter was also denied food and allegedly made to drink insufficient water, thrown at her through the window, until she was discovered in a malnourished condition on Monday afternoon. The child is currently admitted at the isolation ward and is breathing through the aid of a life-support system to assist her with oxygen.

The names of the father and stepmother are known to this publication but deliberately withheld, pending police finalisation of investigations into the matter. They have both not been arrested. Nothando, a Zheng Yong Textile Factory employee, said the shocking discovery that her child was still alive was made on Monday afternoon when her family had gone to the homestead of the child’s father, a traditional healer selling his products around Manzini, to mourn the death of her daughter as well as arrange logistics for the funeral.

Narrating her ordeal, Nothando alleged on Sunday evening her grandmother received a call from the child’s father that her granddaughter had died in unclear circumstances and that her family should come for the funeral.

During an interview at the hospital, a teary Nothando alleged, upon arrival at the homestead on Monday at around noon in the company of her relatives including her grandmother, Gogo Shabangu, they were shocked to find no mourners but only the father and his wife, in a very relaxed mood.

She said her relatives, in a respectable manner, enquired about the child’s mysterious death and where the corpse was kept. The father allegedly said the corpse was kept in one of the houses situated within the family compound but no one was allowed to go inside or view it since the family elders were not present.

It is said in the midst of the confusion; a relative of the child’s mother, then visited the homestead of an aunt of the father, situated a few metres from his homestead, and was shocked to discover she had no idea of the so-called death.

"My relative, in the company of the aunt, then came to the homestead and repeatedly asked the father why he had not informed her about the child’s death. He kept insisting my daughter was dead and her dead body was kept in one of the houses and no one was allowed to go inside it. He then changed his tune, claiming the child had been troubled by the fact she does not stay with her mother. At that moment, the stepmother dropped the bombshell and said my child was alive, but locked in a house because she looked like a dead person. She said the child was suffering because I had deserted her and she had no time to look after other people’s babies. We found the child in a very sorry state, wrapped with wet blankets. She had unchanged sanitary napkins and was very weak and malnourished. I was shocked because even the child’s father sang the same tune as his wife - that no one had the time to look after my child. We then took the child to the Hlatikulu Police Station, where the police rushed her to hospital upon arrival while one of my relatives remained behind, recording a statement," said Shabangu.

Comments

Letintfo leti letifuna kubulala lomntfwana tifuna kutfwala ngaye.Lokwemfati ngabe akutalanga yini kona, ingabe wona lamantfombatane alakhaya abafunani bomahlalela .
Dec 2, 2010, 9:11 AM, Khanyo (magagula_k@yahoo.com)

I am so hurt by such devilish behavior and I will pray for this child and she will survive In Jesus Name. He has power over life and death. Amen! I remember such an incidence in the past had haunted me for years that I kept praying for one child who died due to child abuse. The Police should make sure the couple is locked up immediately before the investigations are completed. This is an attempted murder! I also want to thank the media to expose such from a to z to make people aware of the evils so that the temptation for child abuse is eliminated in Swaziland.
Dec 2, 2010, 9:46 AM, Kabundi Kabasele (Kabundikabasele@yahoo.com)

I cried when reading this .I have three kids, my last born is 2yrs I could only imagine him under such pain and suffering, the reason I cried. I pray GOD will make me rich sooner. I want to build a centre where kids in such situations and experiences will be kept, given love and hope. I really want that privilege of reaching out to suffering and hurting people. That is the only reason I want to get rich, as I realize that we all have a role to play and for us privileged people, it should be an opportunity to lay down ourselves for those who are weak and suffering to step on to their normal and better future.
Dec 2, 2010, 10:27 AM, Stones (stones.m@hotmail.co.uk)

ya.....ne some people are heartless especially these stepmothers. Why didnt she take the child and rather dessert her at the nearest clinic or Hospital. They must be locked up because letintfoleti babulali. Angry @ the same time shocked
Dec 2, 2010, 11:17 AM, Charlene (charlenem@sbgroup.co.sz)

Family tortures, locks up, starves girl (2) for 8 days. Is this still Swaziland? I wonder kutsi engabe siyaphi with this behavior. 16 days of activism. Guy’s umtsetfo awutsatse indzawo yawo.
Dec 2, 2010, 9:59 AM, Dlamini Mbongiseni (mbongiseni_d@yahoo.com)

I’m deeply touched by this story at the same time I’m angry coz I know the police will say they wont arrest these lunatics before the finalisation of the investigation "INVESTIGATION MY FOOT". Even if they can go to court they will be given an option of three months in jail or a bail of R300. Lafa elihle lakithi nkosiyami sowayaphi unembeza ebantwini. Bring them to SA to taste the hand of justice nxaa yazi ngyadineka
Dec 2, 2010, 11:56 AM, Sunday Mbatha (SA) (shandos@teenmail.co.za)

I thought amaswati where people with isimilo, inhlonipho nozwelo but on reading this I give up I’m a swati myself and a parent I’m ashamed by this doing mabavalelwe kulahlelwe ikhiya very far, they are rotten they must go to hell to meet other evil people like them.
Dec 2, 2010, 12:17 PM, Sma (office@provantage.co.za)

It’s a pity cos the young one does not know why is this happening to her. Blaming anyone will not help us. Thank God she is alive, Let us pray for a speedy recovery for the innocent soul & hope God will be on her side. How I wish that she becomes a role model when she is grown up.
Dec 2, 2010, 1:26 PM, Thulani

People at the Time of Swaziland. Please, please keep this in the public eye. The two people responsible for such cruelty on a young and innocent child deserve to have been locked up already! Why were they not arrested? And if this child dies they deserve to hang. The both of them. There is so much power that the media has. And it does not help to withhold the names. In fact I believe the pictures should be in the papers so that the whole world knows what ruthless people these are. Please help this child get the justice she deserves. Please.
Dec 2, 2010, 3:23 PM, Nonhlanhla (mhlanga.nonhlanhla@yahoo.com)

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