Suspended sentence for neglect of child, 4

A DOMESTIC worker and child minder was yesterday sentenced to five years imprisonment by the East London Regional Court for child neglect and abuse.

Nontando Baninzi, 31, from Ngqamakhwe, had earlier been convicted of locking her employer’s sick four-year-old in a house for a day with no supervision and nothing to eat or drink.

East London regional court magistrate Ignatius Kitching found her guilty of child abuse and also of theft. Baninzi had pleaded guilty to the charge of child neglect and abuse, but she pleaded not guilty to the theft of a cellphone and clothing items.

Her sentences were both suspended, with her five-year sentence for child abuse and neglect suspended for four years and her two-year theft sentence suspended for three years, on condition that there are no fourther convictions on similar offences within the suspension period.

The charges against Baninzi came after she locked her employer Siphokazi Gqeba’s son Phalo inside their Gompo house and left for her home in Ngqamakhwe. The incident happened on August 4 last year.

The little boy had not gone to school on the day because he had flu. His mother had left him in Baninzi’s care as she had to attend a funeral.

Giving her testimony, Gqeba said she had left her child on that morning in the care of Baninzi, who had been in the family’s employ for just four weeks.

Gqeba told the court she was shocked when she received a text message from her child’s minder that she had left the child alone and had gone home.

By the time she returned home, the child had already been home alone for nine hours. Gqeba said the door was locked on the outside and the key was nowhere to be found. When she eventually managed to get in, her son was sitting quietly in front of the TV.

She said her son, who is normally an active child, had been “calm” as a result of the flu medication.

Gqeba also told the court how, on August 26, accompanied by police, she visited Baninzi’s home in Ngqamakhwe where her stolen cellphone and some clothing items worth R6 500 were found inside her room.

“Some of the clothing items we found. I had no idea that they were even stolen,” she said.

She said the cellphone was given to Baninzi to use while still in their employ.

Baninzi denied stealing the clothes, saying they were given to her by Gqeba’s mother, a claim shot down by Kitching.

In her defence, a sobbing Baninzi told the court she was not “treated well” by Gqeba family. She said she chose to abandon the child and head back home without letting anyone know.

Her defence lawyer, Sivuyile Mnyute, pleaded with Kitching to be lenient and give her a suspended sentence as she had two children of her own for whom she was the primary caregiver.

State prosecutor Luvuyo Vena did not object to Baninzi being given a suspended sentence.

He said it would likely deter her from committing similar acts in future. —