A mother, her boyfriend and their Elsies River landlord have been arrested for the rape and abuse of her ten-year-old son.
The child told cops he had been raped by the landlord, while his mother burnt his hand, and the boyfriend beat him with a sjambok for wetting the bed.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, says the couple is expected to make their next appearance at the Goodwood Magistrate's Court on 21 May on charges of child abuse, while their landlord, Wayne van Wyk, has been charged with rape.
The child’s ordeal began in 2017 after his father passed away from cancer.
The boy has three other siblings, aged 18, 15 and 7. The two older children live with the paternal grandparents in Delft.
The mother, 33, and her berk, 37, live in Leonsdale with the two younger children.
The children’s grandparents, aged 65 and 64, say the alarm was first raised by a teacher in 2017 who noticed an open wound on the boy’s face.
He told the teacher he had been beaten by his mother’s boyfriend because he wet the bed.
In October 2018, the two boys ran away from home and were found hiding at a graveyard.
The ouma says social workers were contacted, but the children stayed with their mom.
In April this year, Elsies River detectives came to the grandparents to inform them of the arrests.
“The child said the landlord had him inside the toilet and blindfolded him and then raped him and placed him in cold water. He said when he came home without his clothing his mother didn’t want to listen to him and told him to go and sleep,” the shocked grandmother says.