‘Authorities failed to act’ in child’s short, tortured life
PATRICIA Ishwarlal, 31, did not get to see the face of her daughter Jamie Naidoo, 3, for the last time as Jamie was being laid to rest in Chatsworth yesterday.
More than 1 000 community members gathered at the Havenside Hall to pay their last respects to the child.
Ishwarlal and her mother, Salatchee Basanich, 55, are being held at Westville Prison for allegedly beating the 3-year-old to death last week.
The pair could face further charges of neglect, ill-treatment and rape after a postmortem revealed that the toddler might have been penetrated hours before her death.
No one from the immediate maternal family attended the funeral and her three siblings were brought in briefly to see Jamie, then taken back to a children’s home.
Distraught father, Demitri van Vuuren, 29, from Cape Town, was inconsolable. He had not seen his first-born in two years after a dispute with Ishwarlal, and had come out of prison for drug possession.
Vivian van Vuuren said his son was angry and hurt, as were the rest of the family.
“We tried to adopt her (Naidoo) two years ago after we found out that the circum- stances at the home were not good, but we were denied and the government placed her in the care of her maternal grandmother. It really broke my heart to find out that community members tried to get the officials to intervene, but nothing happened,” said Van Vuuren senior.
They were going to appeal her adoption in February, but would fight to get custody of Isabella, 2, who is also Demitri’s child with Ishwarlal.
MEC for Social Development Weziwe Thusi, who attended the funeral, said: “I’m sad, angry and ashamed that this happened on our watch because I have heard that community members reported the suspected abuse to social workers. The investigation is under way to make sure that everyone who failed Jamie is held accountable.”
Ishwarlal’s cousin, Kuben Naidoo, said Jamie’s parents had a drug problem and the mother had tried to sell the child for R100.
“They have brought shame upon this family and if found guilty I would say they should get the death penalty if we still had it in this country,” he said.
The mother and grandmother are due to appear in the Chatworth Magistrate’s Court for their bail application on December 4.