NELSPRUIT – More horror exposed as witness reveals that Daycare Mother rubbed a babies dummy in mud that the cats used for their faeces and then put it in his mouth. This came to light when the trial against Ms Christina Bruins (44) who is charged with child abuse on Tuesday.
Bruins ran a day-care centre in White River.
Her ex domestic worker Ms Janet Mtetwa was still on the witness stand for cross-examination by the defence.
Defence attorney Mr Coert Jordaan shouted at the witness and presented more statements than questions to the witness. Mtetwa was visibly upset and kept re-iterating that she was been badgered and was confused as to what was expected of her on the witness stand.
This while mothers of the children in the case sat in the gallery and watched the proceedings. One mother upon hearing about the dummy got up visibly upset and left the courtroom.
Previously in court Mtetwa had told the court that Bruins had fed the children until they threw up and then she would make them eat their own vomit.
Media had also reported that a baby in the Baby Haven day-care centre which Bruins had run, had died on April 2, 2008. The baby was four months old, and according to the post-mortem it was a cot death.
Yet, Bruins was arrested on October 30, 2010 after two of her staff members reported her to social workers. She apparently immediately closed the centre down after she was apprehended. The police then did an enquiry into the death of the baby but apparently the parents were too traumatised from the incident to take it further.
The trial continues tomorrow. Bruins is currently out on R3 000 bail.
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Horrific evidence in Daycare mother case
