Little Shannon finally back home
THREE weeks after a brutal home invasion that left three-year-old Shannon Botha with severe head wounds and her grandmother fatally injured, the little girl is finally back at home – laughing, giggling and running around.
Shannon’s granny, Tershia Botha, 47, died in a Port Elizabeth hospital three days after the vicious assault at her Chatty 12 home on June 3 that left her brain dead.
Shannon was discharged from Dora Nginza Hospital late on Monday afternoon following a slow recovery.
It was a comforting homecoming for Shannon’s overjoyed mother, Candice, who said her young daughter “has been the light through all of this darkness”.
The day after the attack, enraged Chatty 12 residents pulled Madoda “Doopla” Tesana out of his shack, beat him severely and pelted stones at him.
They alleged Tesana was responsible for the attack and two similar incidents in the same street over the past year. He died from his injuries five days later. For a few brief moments yesterday, the Botha family forgot about the trauma they had suffered as they gathered at the Bloemendal family home, smiling as Shannon’s elder sister, Cassie, 7, tickled her sibling, with the sisters chasing each other around the yard.
“I am so happy to have my sister back at home to play with me again,” Cassie said.
“I was very worried about her when she was in hospital. But she is back home now and we’re going to play every day and go to the shop and read.”
Their mother said Shannon would have to return to the hospital for an additional scan and physiotherapy.
“Shannon has to go for another scan on the 10th [of July] because the swelling on the brain is still healing, so doctors want to check the full extent of the damage once the swelling is gone,” Candice said.
“We were also instructed to keep her moving and exercising to ensure her responses remain good.
“She is talking fine, but not as well as she did before the attack. But we remain hopeful because she is healing day by day.
“It has been a terrible situation but we are just glad that Shannon made it out.”
Police spokeswoman Sandra Janse van Rensburg said there had been no further developments in the investigations into the attack on Botha and Shannon, or the fatal assault on Tesana.