The criminal case of a woman who allegedly sold her 13-year-old daughter to a lawyer to be his sex slave must concern us all.
The case, reported at length by TimesLIVE, is before the Johannesburg high court. It involves a mother who pleaded not guilty to charges related to pimping her daughter who was 13 years old at the time. The mother is in custody while the lawyer has been granted bail.
According to the indictment, Heidelberg attorney Carel Benjamin Schoeman approached the mother to “buy” the victim from her in December 2022 and they agreed on R160,000. He allegedly made a down payment of R24,000 and also handed over a vehicle for her use.
He allegedly raped the child daily, either at a guest house or at the mother's flat in Heidelberg. When the victim refused to participate, he allegedly pointed his firearm at her and threatened her. This is, of course, not the first case where a child’s safety is at risk, allegedly at the hands of their parents who are supposed to care for them.
Who can forget the case of the “Springs monster”, the father who in 2018 was found guilty of the attempted murder of his son, child abuse and neglect, using and dealing in drugs and the rape of his then 16-year-old daughter? The five children were rescued in 2014 after the police raided the family's house in Springs after the neighbours contacted them.
This was after the couple’s then 11-year-old son ran to the neighbours for help as his father had severely beaten him. In another case, the Johannesburg high court sentenced an Alberton husband and wife to life in prison in September after brutalising their two-year-old daughter to death. According to the indictment, she and a brother were removed from their parents in December 2018 amid concerns of abuse.
But in November 2020, they were returned to them after a children's court order. When the two-year-old was placed back home, she was assaulted and raped. The state said her parents would on occasion hit her body against a cupboard or wall, feed her until she vomited before forcing her to eat her vomit, and her body was rubbed with faeces.
Just why parents can unleash so much brutality against their own flesh is beyond comprehension. It is an area social scientists must probe. But what these cases also illustrate is that there is a gap in the childcare system that leaves some of the children vulnerable. These cases call for the department of social development and police to be on the lookout for these cases and take appropriate action.
Strict measures should be undertaken to protect children and remove them from these parents from hell. The department should also make it easy for children in trouble to contact them or seek help. The proverb that “it takes a village to raise a child” should apply as neighbours should report parents who abuse their children to authorities. The courts should impose the harshest sentences on those found guilty of these heinous crimes.
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