Child Mortality Mommy, where has my baby sister gone?
| Shocking figures paint a story of our children being abused, neglected, abandoned and murdered
FOUR-year-old Nasheeqah Scott keeps asking when she is going to see her baby sister Asheeqah again. But she isn’t.
The last photograph she saw of her 15-month-old sibling showed her lying unconscious in Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital on Saturday September 3.
The day before, her mom’s boyfriend allegedly beat Asheeqah, burnt her feet, lips and arm, and knocked her unconscious. There were old burn scars on her body and she had broken ribs.
Two weeks ago today, at 6.15pm, Asheeqah’s life support machine was switched off.
Nasheeqah has been placed in the care of a grandmother, and her mother, Shakiera Scott, has been asked by social services to go into rehab for drinking. Asheeqah’s alleged killer is behind bars awaiting trial.
Almost half of child homicides are due to abuse and neglect, and while an extreme case such as Asheeqah’s is picked up by the system, many others slip through the cracks.
That is why forensic pathologist Professor Lorna Martin and a group of researchers piloted a project in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal in which a group of experts in various disciplines got together to discuss every child death and unravel what happened.
“A child might have been hit over the head or starved to death, but it doesn’t register as a case of fatal abuse or neglect until a team investigates it properly. This approach shows how high the homicide rates really are,” said Martin.
Alarming figures from the study, and earlier research that prompted the pilot, show that more than 1 000 children are murdered every year; homicide is the second-most common cause of death among children whose bodies end up in morgues; in murdered underMonthly SEPARATED BY DEATH: Nasheeqah, left, and Asheeqah in a photo on their mother’s tablet fives, strangulation and bluntforce trauma are the most common causes of death; and 7% of non-natural deaths are suicides.
Nearly half of child homicides are related to abuse and neglect, but among girls this rises to 75%.
The lead researcher, associate professor Shanaaz Mathews, who heads the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, said: “Fatal child abuse among young children shows that the home is one of the most unsafe spaces.
“Contributing factors such as the use of physical punishment under the guise of discipline, and domestic violence in the home, contribute to the high levels of child abuse.”
child death reviews will now be done all over the Western Cape, and the team aims for buy-in from all provinces, with backing from the Department of Social Development.
Department spokeswoman Lumka Oliphant said: “A proper death review for every dead child across the country is supported as it will provide evidence required to inform the review and strengthening of the child protection system.
“The death review will expand the knowledge on the nature and circumstances surrounding the death of children as there is currently limited research.
“Development or review of legislation, policies and strategies must be evidence-based and such research will enrich the development of these critical legislative frameworks to protect children.”
It is not just in the health system where many cases don’t get the attention they deserve; the same happens in the public realm.
According to William Bird, head of Media Monitoring Africa, “children generally don’t feature on our news agenda — making up around 7% of news stories despite being 35% of the population”.
Cases were often complicated, he said, which made it challenging to report on them thoroughly, and “unless there is an unusual element” in a child murder case, they were often not “unpacked” properly in the public realm.
Socioeconomics also played a role: “We are more likely to see and hear about white middleclass children and have causes around their death explained and examined.” THE death of 15-month-old Asheeqah Scott earlier this month reveals the horrific and complicated circumstances in which children lose their lives through violence or neglect.
Children are abused in the home, left in the care of addicts and treated as punching bags for those who ought to protect them.
Asheeqah’s mother, Shakiera, from Delft in Cape Town, tells her side of the story: “I can’t sleep or eat. They took my older daughter [Nasheeqah, 4] away and have said I should go into rehab for drinking. The social workers say the environment is not safe for her.
“She keeps asking where her little sister is. She saw the picture I took of her in hospital and says: ‘Mommy, is she still in hospital?’
“She asked if she is dead. Eventually I said ‘yes’, but now she still asks. She says: ‘I know. But when can I see her? When is she coming back?’
“I don’t like to think about it — when I tidy up there is always something of Asheeqah.
“When my ex appeared in court I wanted to hurt him. He was with her that day and there were eyewitnesses who saw him beating and slapping her. He is a tik and buttons addict. I don’t know if he was drugging that night.
“On Saturday I did see burn marks [on Asheeqah], but you know, any child can walk against a cigarette. But it never happened in front of me. I trusted him with her and know what he is like, but never thought it would go so far.
“People do drugs every day here — on any day it could happen to your child, too. There are drugs in the whole of South Africa and it will never stop.
“You can know someone does drugs but still trust them with your child and think they won’t harm your child. Anyone can hit a child — it will still happen.
“I feel upset that his family is blaming me and my drinking. They said I bashed her head against the wall and hit her. I did hit her on the hand if she broke a cup or something, but I never did it to harm her.
“We took her to the Red Cross [Children’s Hospital] on Saturday night. At 6.15pm on Sunday they put the machines off. She was unconscious when she went in.
“The left side of her brain was swollen. There was blood on the left side of her brain. Maybe we could have saved her if she went in earlier. There was a large burn on her right arm. Her lips were burnt. Her feet were burnt. She also had old burn marks.
“An eyewitness said Asheeqah was on my ex’s lap when they drove to the bottle store to get beer. He slammed on brakes and she bashed her head on the steering wheel. She cried and he beat her. He kept hitting her.
“The eyewitness said when he saw what was happening he ran away. He put her on his bed. She was unconscious then. I don’t know if that is when he burnt her. Maybe he was trying to wake her up. “I could have saved that child. “The social worker says I must go into rehab for drinking for eight weeks. I am still deciding. She says I need counselling.
“Her dad left me when I was five months pregnant. Since then he made no contact and gave no money. It is just me and my mom — both unemployed — looking after the girls.”
Fatal child abuse among young children shows that the home is one of the most unsafe spaces You can know someone does drugs but still trust them with your child