Mourners remember five-year-old boy beaten to death by father

Tears flowed as five-year-old Caleb Ouman's short life was remembered by his family and members of the Bellavista community‚ south of Johannesburg‚ at a memorial service on Wednesday.

Ouman died after being severely beaten to death by his 35-year-old father‚ Seisax Boesak‚ on Thursday.

Boesak abandoned his bail application on Monday when he appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court.

The memorial service was held under a small stretch tent in front of the flat where the boy lived with his aunt‚ Vivian Boesak.

A photograph of the five-year-old lay next to a bouquet of white and blue flowers on a draped small table.

Vivian lived with Ouman until his father took him to "bond" with him after he was released from prison in February for assaulting him.

Boesak was released after assault charges were dropped against him. He had been arrested in December.

Johannesburg’s member of the mayoral committee for social development‚ Dr Mpho Phalatse‚ said the boy's death was "tragic and disturbing".

"We knew about the abuse. It was reported and there was an arrest made. But it was irresponsible for the father to be released. He was released before he could get the help he needed.

"This boy was robbed of an opportunity to express himself and be a gift to us‚" Phalatse said.

She said there needed to be an investigation into why Boesak was released from prison after he was arrested for assaulting Ouman on a previous occasion.

"We will drill down to what happened and find out who dropped the ball‚" said Phalatse.

Rashieda Landis‚ a ward councillor at Chrisville‚ South of Johannesburg‚ said: "Caleb did not deserve what he went through. I fought with Seisax. I put in rehab‚ but [his ] strike killed our Caleb". Ouman's mother Merchia‚ who lives in Welkom‚ was not at the memorial service due to "financial constraints".

Anastacia Jacobs‚ the chairperson of local drug action committee in Booysens‚ said the boy would be buried in Welkom on Saturday.

She said the community was shocked to hear that charges against Boesak had previously been dropped.

"We as the community are asking ourselves why the charges were dropped in the first place."

Boesak is due back in court on October 4.