Centurion police have been accused of failing to act against a father accused of abusing his daughter – in spite of mounting evidence against him.
Three women have spoken of their futile attempts to save the 13-year-old girl in question.
Rekord has reported about this alleged abuse before.
Despite it being a period of 16 days of activism against women and child abuse, police have allegedly not shown any interest in taking the case on.
Neighbours living in the same complex as the family said they have witnessed the alleged abuse first-hand and tried to report it to police, with no success.
Erasmia police spokesperson Constable Tumisang Moloto confirmed he was aware of the matter, but that no case had been opened.
He said the women were “advised to lay a complaint with a social worker”.
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The father of the girl declined to speak to Rekord.
One his neighbours said she has heard the girl “scream every day”.
“She is not even going to school,” she said.
Neighbours who were aware of the alleged abuse brought the matter to the attention of their landlady who also tried to lay a complaint with the Erasmia police in Centurion, “but she was sent from pillar to post”.
She was allegedly told a case can only be opened by a social worker.
“The social worker I approached seemed to have her own problems – dealing with an injury and not having a car. I left the police station discouraged,” said the landlady.
“I’ve contacted the station commander as well, explaining that I need to report a case of child abuse.
ALSO READ: Centurion landlady speaks out on child abuse
“I felt like a nuisance – for trying to lay a complaint against child abuse,”
An officer from the family and child protection unit she spoke to, told her that a case should have been opened.
When the landlady and her tenants went to the Erasmia police station in yet another attempt to lay a complaint, “the station commander distanced herself from the matter”.
“I refused to leave the police station without any form of proof that I’d tried to lay a complaint.”
In an affidavit, she said that her tenants had seen once how the child was “thrown” from a moving car by the father who then failed to stop.
Centurion ward councillor Cindy Billson described the police’s alleged conduct as “unacceptable”.
“Under the law, police must act immediately in cases of child abuse.”
Quoting the children’s act, Billson said: “Any person who on reasonable grounds believes that a child is in need of care and protection may report that belief to the provincial department of social development, a designated child protection organisation or a police official.”
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