Durban - A young mother who has allegedly dumped her 2-year-old child in an abandoned pit toilet in eMpangenil, in northern KwaZulu -Natal, has been charged with attempted murder. The 14-year-old girl was alleged to have started a new relationship with a 17-year-old boy, who was unaccepting of her child
Her family became suspicious on December 4, when the toddler could not be found, prompting them to question the teenage mother on the child’s whereabouts.
She initially told them that she had slammed the child’s head against a rock and left the child for dead in the bush.
A relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was afraid that they would be attacked by the villagers if they found out what the 14-year-old mother had done, said that when she told the teenager that they would go look for the child, she refused.
It was only when the police arrived, that the teenager told them that the child had been dumped in the pit toilet.
The child has been admitted to a nearby hospital and was in a critical condition as she had sustained serious injuries to her lower legs.
“We have been raising the child since she was born after her biological father died,” the relative said.
“On the day of the incident she had gone to visit her boyfriend and took the child along. She looked normal. We think she was blinded by what she thought was love and went along with a plan to kill the chil.
‘’When the child comes back from hospital we will continue taking care of the child. The doctors are still checking to see the full extent of the injuries.“
The Department of Social Development has visited the family to provide counselling for them.
Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts Netsuinda, provincial police spokesperson confirmed that the teenager had been arrested and had appeared in the Melmoth Magistrate’s court.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE