Father beats child because he couldn’t support her
WELTEVREDEN PARK - A three-year-old girl was rescued from allegedly being beaten to death by father.
A three-year-old girl was rescued from being allegedly beaten to death by her father. The child was rescued by a passer-by, Robert Sadiki, who witnessed the ordeal.
It is understood that the father fetched his daughter from school and went with her to an open veld in Cockspur Road, Weltevreden Park.
Eyewitness Sadiki said he saw the father allegedly assaulting the child.
“At first I thought he was playing with the little girl but then I realised that he was actually strangling her. Then I saw him banging her against the wall and kicking her.”
While trying to intervene and assist the three-year-old, the father threw stones at Sadiki.
“He told me to mind my own business because this was not my child.”
Sadiki said he then told the father he was going to report him to the police.
He added that as he was figuring out what to do, he managed to pull the little girl from the father.
“There was no one on the road but, fortunately, as I was still trying to figure out what to do, a security vehicle came and I stopped them and showed them the little girl.”
Eugene Coetzee of EC Security confirms that one of their vehicles was flagged by Sadiki.
“We found the little girl with bruises and burned grass on her head. We immediately called Vital Med Ambulance Sercvices.”
Then the search began for the father, who was apprehended not too far from the original scene.
According to Coetzee, the father told their officers that he wanted to beat the child to death because he could not afford to maintain the little girl.
Tanya du Toit of Vital Med said their paramedics treated the child for injuries she sustained and took her to Wilgeheuwel Hospital for further medical treatment.
She commended Sadiki for helping out.
“If Robert (Sadiki) had not intervened, the girl would have more likely been part of statistics of children who went missing and found dead.”
Spokesperson for Honeydew Police Warrant Officer Karen Jacobs said a case was opened at their station but she could not give further details on the incident.
