Stepmother scalds boy (8) with boiling water

*Velaphi, a Grade II pupil at Galilee Primary School, was taken to the Mhlosheni Clinic by his stepmother, Thuli* of Mbukwane.

She allegedly told the nurses that the boy sustained the injuries after falling while carrying a one litre container filled with boiling water. Velaphi, in an interview conducted in the presence of his grandmother, claimed he was allegedly ordered by his stepmother to lie on the ground as she ‘wanted to give him sweets’ (‘watsi ufuna kungipha emaswidi’).

He alleged that his stepmother just stared at him when he was crying, pleading for help and making means of taking off the T-shirt he was wearing after she had allegedly poured the boiling water on him.

She is alleged to have then warned the boy not to tell anyone that she scalded him with boiling water on his back before smearing him with an egg on the injuries.

"She also said she was making me suffer for my mother’s sins because she stabbed her in the face with a beer bottle some years ago. She accused me of finishing food that my father bought for them, yet I was staying at my mother’s parental homestead at Galilee," the eight-year-old boy alleged. The granmother said it was the boy’s mother who found out that he had been burnt.

She said his mother went to fetch him and his younger sister at the farm where their father is employed. "We were shocked when it later transpired that the father and stepmother had made up the story that Velaphi got injured after falling while carrying a container filled with boiling water.

"Nurses at the Mhlosheni Clinic suggested we take him to the Hlatikhulu Government Hospital for advanced treatment, however, we couldn’t due to financial constraints.

"Last Monday, I went to his school where I reported the incident and on Wednesday the Principal, Mr Simelane, took him to the Nhlangano Health Centre where he was treated and discharged," said the grandmother.

The matter was eventually formally reported at the Hluthi Police Station on Thursday.

In an interview on Saturday at her workplace, the stepmother said she was still angry at the child’s mother because she stabbed her in the face with a beer bottle in 2009 for being in a love relationship with the boy’s father.

"She stabbed me for falling in love with the boy’s father and the scar is still visible on my face and that hurt me a lot," she alleged.

"I am prepared to defend myself in court against the allegations," she alleged.

The stepmother was fetched for interrogation by the police at her workplace on Sunday and will appear today at the Nhlangano Magistrates Court.

Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Wendy Hleta, confirmed the matter.

  - Yebonine, this must be one of the most vicious attacks I have seen in a long time. Kusho kutsi loSisi lo burnt the boy for his 'mother's' sins?? Cha, yini ngatsi akaphili kahle loSisi nang? Una eight-years lomnftwana lo...his body could have easily shut down due to the intense heat of boiling water. Bekaganga loSisi and nje to ay he fell whilst carrying water...phela the injuries would have been in front of the body and not at the back-next to the shoulders nogal! This wickedness should be condemned in the highest possible way.
August 13, 2012, 1:00 pm, Gugu Phiri

  - This is barbaric. We have been used to such bizarre incidents and it is high time the courts step up the gear in this cases. A deterrent punishment fits this monster masquarading as a woman. Just like the crime of rape, the courts should do all means necessary to defend the victims of child abuse. How can she do this and claim that she will defend hereself to the charges? Just because she knows the law is very lax!!!!
August 13, 2012, 1:00 pm, Sydney S Maseko (finestswazi@rocketmail.com)

  - Aw Somandla selekelele, maye siyalifisa lelizulu sibafati, mane we are fighting our wars instead of giving them to you Father God, and we fight the wrong people. God Have mercy. I wonder how can you fight a child whilst you have been hurt by his mother or father. In a real sense ungenaphi lomntfwana kulemphi le. Adle kuphi lomntfwana makalambile. May courts increase sentences for this type of Monsters.
August 13, 2012, 2:51 pm, vuvu Dlamini (sthevuyi@yahoo.com)

  - Aw Somandla selekelele, maye siyalifisa lelizulu sibafati, mane we are fighting our wars instead of giving them to you Father God, and we fight the wrong people. God Have mercy. I wonder how can you fight a child whilst you have been hurt by his mother or father. In a real sense ungenaphi lomntfwana kulemphi le. Adle kuphi lomntfwana makalambile. May courts increase sentences for this type of Monsters.
August 13, 2012, 4:41 pm, vuvu Dlamini (sthevuyi@yahoo.com)

  -  Doing such to an innocent child .She should rot in jail, ungu Sathane lomkhulu lucobo.
August 13, 2012, 4:41 pm, Takhona Ndlangamandla (tn25302@gmai.com)

 - She is not ok upstairs! Let her face jail! How do you punish a young child for his mother's sins? I really hope the magistrate will give her a long sentence. Nani madvodza asenitibone tinhlanya letitanibulalela bantfwana man!
August 13, 2012, 4:42 pm, Bheki (nkosi_bheki@yahoo.com)

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