A man, Gerhard Viljoen, was found guilty for burning the six-week-old baby of his ex-girlfriend with dry ice and administering various other injuries by repeatedly hitting the baby with the open hand and spatula over his whole body.
Natasha Venter, Advisor at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, said the man also admitted that, on another occasion, he had hit the baby with his fist when he wanted to hit the baby’s mother. The latter had been kneeling over her baby at that time.
“Viljoen pleaded guilty and made a plea agreement with the State. The J88 of the baby contains a list of 12 injuries. Viljoen admitted that he burned the baby by holding him against the dry ice in his refrigerator,” Venter said.
She said he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, of which two years are suspended for five years after he was found guilty of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The baby was merely six weeks old in October 2020 when the crime was committed.
Meanwhile, Venter noted that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is currently considering charges against the baby’s biological mother because she allegedly admitted to a kindergarten teacher that she had put her baby in a deep freeze if he cried too much.
“The biological mother of the victim has not been accused yet, because she is currently still a minor,” Venter explained.
By Feranmi Okuku
