Windhoek
A four-year-old girl was allegedly brutalised by her aunt on various occasions until the suspect was arrested last Friday and charged with the assault of the minor.
Concerned Okahandja Park residents alerted the police of the girl’s abuse, and the Gender-Based Violence Investigation Unit (GBVIU) took in the girl after the aunt, Hendrina Hanga, was arrested.
Neighbours, who preferred anonymity, said the aunt appeared in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Hanga, 44, on various occasions allegedly assaulted her niece. The suspect, who was denied bail, is the older sister of the girl’s father who lives and works in the north.
It is alleged Hanga, who sells kapana, this year brought the minor from the north to look after her, and for her to start pre-school in the capital. According to neighbours, the girl had stopped attending school following the merciless assaults by her ruthless aunt.
“In the most recent case Hanga claims she beat the child because she nearly burnt the bed. I don’t know if it’s true or not,” said a neighbour, adding that the girl had a swollen arm after she was beaten.
She said Hanga had beaten her niece twice last week Thursday – in the morning and in the evening.
The girl has scars on her head and feet from previous beatings, according to the neighbour.
The neighbour says she thinks the girl must have felt extremely traumatised and anxious around Hanga, because on one occasion the girl vomited while eating, and her aunt made her eat her own vomit.
“To tell you the truth that woman beats the child. She even beats the girl for playing with children in the neighbourhood,” the neighbour said, adding that last week Hanga had also beaten the minor because she refused to drink milk.
Hanga appeared on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, read with the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act.
Public prosecutor Maria Andimba said the State objected to bail in terms of the Domestic Violence Act and because the victim is a 4-year-old minor. Andimba said the accused has the right to lodge a formal bail application. The case was postponed to October 29.
Hanga stood at the police counter insisting she gets bail and denied abusing her niece.
“I beat her recently because she nearly burnt the shack. The shack did not burn down, only the belongings inside,” she said after appearing in court yesterday.
She said that while the belongings were burning the girl was on the bed, and she pulled her out of the shack – that’s way she got the mark on her forehead.
Hanga said she needed bail to go home to her children who are visiting her from the north, and there was nobody to look after them.
Hanga said her niece no longer attends pre-school because she (Hanga) did not have the N$130 school fee for this month.
Nampol spokesperson Edwin Kanguatjivi confirmed the case and said the child was in the police shelter.