Mum’s cry for closure

The mother of a child at the centre of a five-year-old molestation case is begging court authorities to bring it to an end – for her daughter’s sake.

“I don’t want her to suffer anymore. It has been a very long time . . . . The court [system] is failing me,” the tearful woman told the MIDWEEK NATION after the case involving her now nine-year-old daughter was again adjourned this week with still just one witness left to be called.

The distressed mother said the system was now also violating her daughter who was between three and four years when the alleged sexual abuse occurred at the hands of a relative.

The child has already testified in the preliminary hearing of the matter and may have to go through more pre-trial testimony since the magistrate who started the case has moved on. Unless that judicial officer is permitted to do what is customary in such situations and returns temporarily to hear the last witness, the matter, which started in 2009, will have to go back through the system, meaning the child will have to testify again and then at the actual trial. 

Please read the full story in today’s MIDWEEK NATION, or in the eNATION edition.