A grief-stricken father is struggling to comprehend a violent attack on his toddler after he found her with multiple stab wounds, lying in a pool of blood. <\/p>\n
The child is recovering in hospital.<\/p>\n
The father, speaking outside the Humansdorp magistrate\u2019s court on Monday, described how he had found his two-year-old daughter lying on the floor of a house in Jeffreys Bay on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
When I entered that house, my child was full of stab wounds,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
There was blood on the floor. <\/p>\n
We could not ask anything<\/p>\n
The suspect, whose name is known to The Herald but cannot be published due to a court order, was arrested at her house in Tokyo Sexwale township at about 4am. <\/p>\n
The woman, a 59-year-old suspect, has appeared in court and is facing charges of child neglect and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. <\/p>\n
The case has been remanded to January 12 for a formal bail application. <\/p>\n
The child\u2019s father said due to their shock the family had not even asked the childminder what had happened. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I entered that house, my child was full of stab wounds,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was blood on the floor. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe could not ask anything. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe all cried, including her mother and my brother, because of her horrifying condition. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor told us she had sustained 15 stab wounds in the head, face, her back, chest and hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked for time off to celebrate on New Year\u2019s Eve, never imagined the horrific incident that would follow.<\/p>\n
The mother was in the company of his brother and a relative. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe came to me while carrying the baby on her back to say they would like to go out. <\/p>\n
\u201cShame, she did indicate to me before the 1st that she would like to go out and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said she then took the toddler to the childminder, who had previously indicated that she would not have an issue looking after her. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe once even told us that our child was lovable … <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt she would be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, the father said, he had opted to sleep at his home instead of going out because he neither drank nor smoked. <\/p>\n
He said the child\u2019s mother returned home in the early hours of the morning and continued to have fun with others outside. <\/p>\n
However, shortly thereafter the childminder\u2019s daughter shouted for him to go outside. <\/p>\n
When he did, he was met by a security guard who could only say the situation was bad. <\/p>\n
He then went to the scene and was met by the toddler\u2019s mother, who was crying. <\/p>\n
She was shouting: \u201cIt\u2019s our child, our child!\u201d <\/p>\n
Police and residents had gathered outside the house. <\/p>\n
The father said he and the child\u2019s mother could not stop crying until an ambulance arrived and transported them to the Humansdorp hospital, where the toddler was treated and bandaged. <\/p>\n
She was later taken to Livingstone Hospital, where she received further treatment.<\/p>\n
He said she was recovering but still in pain. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know what happened,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first time we asked someone to look after our child. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel really bad. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe never thought of something like this. <\/p>\n
How can someone do something like this to a child who can\u2019t answer for herself? <\/p>\n
We feel hurt. I can\u2019t sleep<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can someone do something like this to a child who can\u2019t answer for herself? <\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel hurt. I can\u2019t sleep. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I think about it, I ask God why she deserved it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer mother is not okay. She is stressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t forgive myself. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be very difficult now to trust people. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know how we\u2019re going to respond to her when she gets older and asks about her wounds.\u201d <\/p>\n
A relative of the father\u2019s said the family was hurt. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t sleep,\u201d the relative said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank God that she is still alive. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow are we supposed to trust people again, even at daycares?\u201d<\/p>\n
A witness said when she arrived on the scene the child was covered with a blanket, and her mother had removed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey covered her up like she was dead. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is her mother who removed the blanket to only find out that she was still alive.\u201d <\/p>\n
Police spokesperson Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana said they were called out to the scene after receiving a complaint that a child had been injured. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unknown how the victim sustained the injuries as the childminder was allegedly under the influence of alcohol,\u201d Gantana said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe victim was taken to hospital.\u201d <\/p>\n
A group of Jeffreys Bay residents attended court on Monday in a show of support for the child and her family. <\/p>\n
ANC Ward 2 PR councillor Vuyokazi Batyi said they were all shocked about the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came to show compassion to the family,\u201d Batyi said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to lie; this is the first such heinous act to happen in our area. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still reeling in shock. I\u2019m still shaken. We don\u2019t know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
DA Ward 2 councillor Bonita Moos said they were concerned about the incident. \u201cI came to find out about the proceedings and what steps would be taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like for the case to be followed through so that we can have justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice for our small babies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a child that is two years old. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t have a say. She\u2019s helpless. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe as a community need to stand together to fight for her,\u201d said Moos. <\/p>\n
The Fallen Angels Support Group\u2019s Felicity Cupido said the family needed moral support. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike now in [the child\u2019s] case, she can\u2019t speak for herself and that\u2019s why we\u2019re reaching out to the parents and seeing how we can help by speaking up for her because she\u2019s a little girl who is two years old; she needs people to reach out and speak for her,\u201d Cupido said.<\/p>\n
The Teddy Bear Foundation offers tips for parents looking for childminders. <\/p>\n
The foundation\u2019s child-protection guidance offers points from a safeguarding perspective. It focuses on prevention, early warning signs and practical checks, especially in light of incidents where children have been harmed while in the care of a childminder and where \u201cimpairments\u201d (such as alcohol use) are suspected.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren under five are especially vulnerable and rely entirely on adults to keep them safe,\u201d the guidelines read. <\/p>\n
\u201cParents can significantly reduce risks by carrying out careful checks before hiring, staying alert during care and acting quickly if concerns arise.\u201d <\/p>\n
Before hiring a childminder, the guidelines say, it is essential to conduct background and legitimacy checks such as asking for official identification, verifying registration or licensing with the relevant authority (where applicable), requesting a criminal background check (police clearance) and asking for at least two references, preferably from the parents of young children.<\/p>\n
It is also advisable to confirm whether the childminder has undergone first aid and child safety training, among other issues.<\/p>\n
The Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A grief-stricken father is struggling to comprehend a violent attack on his toddler after he found her with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[4979,4980,1180,131,4978],"class_list":{"0":"post-6893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-childminer","9":"tag-jefferys-bay","10":"tag-murder","11":"tag-south-africa","12":"tag-toddler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}