‘I do not want to be his son‚’ says victim of Springs ‘house of horrors’ ahead of his dad’s sentencing

“If I could have‚ I would have killed him myself. I hate him a lot.”

That is what one of the children of the so-called “Springs monster” in the so-called “house of horrors” said about his father.

The child’s dad has been found guilty of a string of heinous crimes perpetuated against his own children. The man – and his wife‚ who has also been found guilty of various offenses – cannot be named to protect the identity of the children.

“When I think about him‚ I hate everything about him. He never loved me. I wish I could get another surname. I do not want to be anything of his anymore. I do not want to be his son. Someone once told me I look like him. I became very angry‚” the child said in an affidavit dated September 26.

The father is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday in the Pretoria High Court.

The mother and father kept their five children locked up in their home in Springs‚ Gauteng. Their reign of terror made headlines four years ago when details emerged of how their children were burnt with blow torches‚ tied up in a closet and kept handcuffed.

The court previously heard how the father cuffed his son and pepper-sprayed him‚ dunked him in water and deprived him of food.

Their 11-year-old son was sometimes suspended by his hands and feet by chains from poles‚ and whipped and beaten with a knobkerrie. The horror was revealed after the boy escaped and alerted the neighbours.

The father was found guilty of attempted murder‚ rape‚ defeating the ends of justice‚ dealing and possessing drugs.

The mother kept her children’s trauma a secret. She was found guilty of defeating and obstructing the ends of justice‚ child abuse and drug possession. She was acquitted of the charges of attempted murder.

The child said their mother neglected them.

“I remember that someone once asked her if she chooses us children or if she chooses him. She said him. I will never forgive her for that. She was a bad mother. She never cooked us food‚ bathed us or did anything with us‚” the child said in the affidavit.

The child added: “It is her fault that I had to stay with so many other people who were also hurt.”

Another child said in their affidavit: “I can remember‚ if I wet my pants‚ my mother took a needle and stabbed me on my private parts.”

The child said forgiveness was possible‚ but the memories will remain.

“I do not want my mother or father in my life and they do not deserve to be called my mother and father. I had to learn to be a child again and my grandmother helped with that and now I am learning for the first time what it means to have a mother and father that care and have your best interests at heart.”

Clinical psychologist Bronwyn Stollarz testified on Monday that the children’s father was a psychopath and a sadist with a “serious lack of insight”.

“Because he feels like he is being rehabilitated and he’s found the Lord that by extension his children should also be forgiving and want a relationship with him‚” Stollarz said.

“My concern is that with his lack of insight and thinking about his behaviour‚ comes the risk of recidivism or acting out if you don’t believe or have knowledge of or insight into what harm you have done your victims.

"What would stop you from doing that again? …I feel the accused knows what he did was wrong and therefore stated that he’s sorry for what he’s done‚ but that [this] does not indicate remorse.”

The court heard the father had started his own church group in prison.

“The accused will only adjust to prison life if he’s able to take some form of control over his environment based on these personality characteristics‚” said Stollarz.

On Monday‚ Judge Eben Jordaan‚ when discussing the children's’ affidavits‚ pondered where the cycle of abuse will end.

“God only knows‚” he lamented.