Lavern De Vries
22 April 2009
The biological mother of a toddler whose 2002 death is being probed in an inquest has told the court she had given her children to an Athlone family as she was on drugs, unemployed and financially not in a position to provide for them.
The foster family, however, challenged the woman's testimony and said she had given the children to them because she was a Satanist and she did not want to sacrifice her first-born as her religion demanded.
During her testimony at the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the foster mother also alleged that the mother feared that their biological father, who was also a Satanist, was looking for the son in order to sacrifice him.
The mother, who broke down and left the court during the early morning proceedings, rejected both claims, saying she had never threatened to harm her children and neither had her ex-husband as he had abandoned the family soon after she fell pregnant with her second child.
The woman's son, a three-year-old toddler, died on September 16, 2002 while he and his younger sister were in the care of the Athlone family.
The family, who are Muslim, said the boy had died after knocking his head under a table and buried him on the same day, in accordance with their religious beliefs.
On Tuesday the mother explained that she had entered a verbal agreement with the foster mother that the family would care for the children on condition that she be allowed to visit them and be updated on their progress.
Despite the agreement, the mother was not told that the children were being raised as Muslims, nor was she told that her son had died, the court heard.
The mother said that on the day of his death, she phoned the foster mother to ask to speak to her son but was told he was not available, after which the woman hung up.
The next day her priest's wife told her the child had died.
A social worker returned her daughter to her the next day and a few days later the mother was called to identify the boy's body, which had been exhumed.
She said she saw several bruises on the body.
In earlier proceedings, a forensic pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the boy's body said she had found at least 15 bruises, as well as a broken rib and a brain injury.
The biological mother is expected to continue her testimony on Thursday.
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