Mother of boy allegedly bitten by rats speaks out

The mother of a toddler allegedly bitten to death by rats in Ramotse, Hammanskraal, on June 17 is still confused about what happened to her child.

Letta Nkgape Tsoku woke up to find the lifeless body of her son Thabang (2) with wounds to the face.

“The family suspects that he was bitten by a rat while sleeping and because of illness was unable to move or cry,” said police spokesperson Sergeant Herman Moremi.

Tsoku said she has not been coping since the incident and kept asking herself what really happened to her child.

She said her child’s death was still a mystery and she did not rule out witchcraft.

“I’ve been trying to be strong but I’m really struggling to cope. I think I need professional help. On the morning of the incident, there was no blood anywhere on the bed.

“I then went to Ga-Rankuwa Forensic Laboratory on June 20 to identify the child. When I got there, blood was all over the place. I’m asking myself why was there no blood where he was found because it was clear that something had eaten him.”

She said after the funeral, Thabang’s father was involved in a car accident.

“He is still in hospital and I spoke to him today (Wednesday). He said he was going for an operation on his right jaw. He’s getting better but we keep asking ourselves why these things are happening.”

Last week Thabang’s aunt Evelyn Tsoku said the boy was well when he went to bed the night before.

She said the following morning when Letta called her to her room, she was shocked to see the boy with wounds to his face.

“She was crying, and the child had bite marks all over his face; it was like something had eaten his face. The child had not cried during the night.”

How Thabang died left the family with many unanswered questions, according to Evelyn.

“We do not know what time this might have happened.”

Evelyn said the family did not want to rule out the possibility of witchcraft; however, they were waiting for the post-mortem to tell them what happened.

“We haven’t received the results of the postmortem yet,” said Evelyn, adding that her sister struggled to accept the death.

“My heart is broken. I struggle to even sleep at night because we still ask ourselves what could have eaten him like that. We are thinking that this might happen again because we have other children in the house.”

Moremi said the police were investigating and were awaiting the results of the post-mortem to confirm the cause of death.

ALSO READ: Two-year-old allegedly bitten to death by rats

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