Limpopo child (8) assaulted to death ‘for stealing’, mother arrested

A 31-year-old woman, the mother of deceased, was arrested for the murder of her eight-year-old child on Thursday afternoon, Polokwane Review reports.

In a statement released, Police spokesperson, Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the incident happened at around 14:15 on Thursday afternoon at Ga-Makhushane village in the outskirts of Namakgale township outside Phalaborwa.

“The police received a report that there was a child who was assaulted by her mother and died as a result. They responded immediately and on arrival, they found the body of eight-year-old Varsity Leah Mabunda. She had multiple injuries throughout her body,” he explained.

Preliminary police investigations have revealed that the mother had accused the child of stealing money and then assaulted using various objects which resulted in her death, Ngoepe said in the statement.

“It is believed that the mother ran away soon after the incident but after the police launched a search operation she was arrested at a hideout in the area.”

The suspect will appear before the Namakgale Magistrate Court on a charge of murder. Police investigations are still continuing.

The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has condemned the continuous killings of children in some parts of the province.

“Community members are warned not to violently punish their children regardless of the type of mistakes they have done, but they rather use other corrective measures to avoid similar incidents of occurring,” General Ledwaba concluded.