Johannesburg - What makes a father rape and kill his 8-day-old baby girl? Vengeance.
That’s the explanation from the Head of Advocacy at Women and Men Against Child Abuse, Luke Lamprecht, after an an infant was allegedly raped and killed by her father in Welverdiend, Carletonville. The little girl may also be the country’s youngest rape victim in history.
SAPS spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said the 36-year-old father of four was arrested and appeared in the Oberholzer Magistrate’s Court last week where he faces rape and murder charges.
Masondo said that on June 8 the baby’s father took her from her mother and left the house in Welverdiend, Carletonville.
“Later in the day, the father returned the child naked and injured. The mother took the child to the nearest medical care centre where the rape was confirmed by the medical practitioner. The victim passed away in hospital the following day,” Masondo said.
Lamprecht said the hymen of an infant that young measured just one millimetre and the vaginal cavity was usually completely torn. In some cases, the child’s anus as well, because of the proximity of the orifices.
Lamprecht said cases involving infant rapes were acts of “extreme violence”, usually against the mother.
“If you want to hurt the mother, you attack the child sexually. This is how you hurt the mother in the worst possible way. In most cases the infants die because of the blunt trauma and the massive physical assault,” he said.
The incident shook the small area of Welverdiend, which has no street names and consists mainly of railway houses. It’s a small town in the West Rand District Municipality, just west of Carletonville.
A child activist in the area told Independent Media the couple were believed to be drug users and dealers. Police however could not confirm if the father had been under the influence of drugs at the time of his arrest or whether he and his partner were indeed drug users and dealers. While the mother does not face charges at this point, police said a thorough investigation was under way.
A Pixie Pink Victims advocate, known in the Carletonville area as just Pixie, said the couple already had three of their children removed from the family home by the Department of Social Development (DSD) following allegations of physical abuse.
Pixie said: “This is just horrific, more than terrible. I was informed of this incident on a community WhatsApp group. I heard from the community that the child wasn’t breathing and was taken to hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. She was bleeding profusely.”
Motsamai Motlhaolwa, spokesperson for the DSD, did not provide answers around the couple’s other children who had been removed from their home nor whether the couple were drug users.
Motlhaolwa only said that an “enquiry” (rape and murder of an 8-day-old baby) was being handled by the SAVF (NPO) in Carletonville.
Motlhaolwa said: “The organisation indicated that they were not aware of the case and it was not reported to their offices. The organisation is only aware of the father requesting food parcels and living with his mother only.
“The organisation still needs to interview the mother of the child to get information, offer counselling to the family and assessment will determine their needs. A full report needs to be forwarded. The matter is receiving attention. The area will also be targeted for substance abuse awareness.”
Shaheda Omar, director and clinical director of the Teddy Bear Foundation, described the incident as vile, unthinkable and evil.
“I can’t even utter the words. It is so unspeakable. There isn’t a word in the dictionary bad enough for this kind of act. I have never come across a case which involves a days old infant being raped. This baby has not developed at all ... it is still developing its lungs to communicate by crying.”
Omar said, sadly, there had been a massive system and communication breakdown at DSD.
“They want to stop funding to us NPOs who are actually doing their work, but they can’t do their jobs properly. They are the custodians, the first port of call for vulnerable people and children, they should take the lead here. But there is no accountability, no proper record keeping and no communication at the department. The whole framework is a total mess,” Omar said.
She added that that she hoped the father was sent to jail for a long time.
“This man can’t get the credit of being called insane. Not even insane people would do such a thing to their own flesh and blood, and a newborn. There isn’t a bad enough punishment for this. He is pure evil,” Omar said.
Lamprecht said in many of the child rape cases he had dealt with in his career, drugs and alcohol often played a role in the violence seen against the children.
“I have come across nine child rapes but this is by far the youngest child I have ever heard of. I know of a woman and her brother who were given three life sentences after the ritual murder of her 18-month old baby.
“The sheer blunt trauma that is inflicted on these infants are too horrible to imagine. The infants are also often beaten. This almost takes me back to the height of the HIV/Aids pandemic when infant rapes were almost a daily occurrence,” Lamprecht said.
Masondo said the SAPS would oppose bail and continue to prioritise cases against children and women. The matter has been postponed to July 24.