Mom allegedly drowns child in bucket of water
A MOTHER is expected before the KwaDukuza Magistrate’s Court today after she allegedly drowned her 4-yearold child in a bucket full of water because she was “difficult and troubling her”.
Police spokesperson Thenjiswa Ngcobo said that on Tuesday, Umhlali police received a complaint of a child that died at one of the homes in Ballito, north of Durban.
Ngcobo said the police then went to the address given to them.
“The police met the mother of the child who stated that her child was difficult and troubling her and she decided to drown the child in a bucket full of water until she stopped moving,” Ngcobo said.
She said the child’s hands were tied together with tape.
“The little girl was certified dead at the scene.”
Ngcobo said a case of murder was opened for investigation by Umhlali SAPS.
“The 45-year-old woman was placed under arrest and was charged with murder. She is expected to appear before the KwaDukuza Magistrates Court tomorrow (Thursday),” Ngcobo said.
Childline KZN acting director Adeshini Naicker said: “This is shocking and sad especially in light of all the awareness and education we create around child abuse, femicide and infanticide.”
Isiaiah 54 Children’s Sanctuary founder Glynnis Dauth said the incident was a hard one to deal with.
She raised questions about the mother’s support system – family, friends and the father of the child – and whether the mother had previous mental conditions.
“How was the child treated before this happened, we will never know,” Dauth asked. “No one has the right to take someone’s life and most especially a child.”
Child Rights activist Joan van Niekerk described it as an “extremely sad situation when this occurs”.
She said what needed to be done was to find out the circumstances surrounding the mother’s behaviour.
Van Niekerk said while the taking of a child’s life was “unacceptable”, if we’re going to prevent deaths of children like this, we need to understand what led up to the behaviour and how we can prevent it in the future.”