Police are looking for a landlord who is accused of sexually assaulting children aged between six and 10 in his flat in Boksburg on the East Rand.
Police and parents of two of the victims said the man allegedly took the minors to his flat where he apparently made them watch porn and fondled them.
The parents, who spoke to Sowetan yesterday, said this could have been going on for about four months or even longer.
The abuse allegations came out on Sunday after a 10-year-old victim told her friend's mother that they had been made to watch porn and were fondled, allegedly by the landlord. The distraught mom said the man was known as a person who loved kids.
“They called him 'uncle' and he is also our landlord. We stay with him under the same roof because he owns a house that has been divided into flats,” said the mother.
The mother said the man waited for parents to go out and would call the children into his room. “He once said he enjoyed watching nice movies with the children and that was months ago. I took it innocently and didn't know he was taking advantage of my child's innocence,” she said.
Another mother said the children described how the man would masturbate in front of them and then tell them to go home and not tell anyone about their “little game with uncle”.
Police spokesperson Const Justice Ramaube confirmed that the suspect who is in his 30s allegedly took the children whose parents are renting at his house and sexually groomed them while making them watch pornographic material.
Ramaube said the incident happened on Sunday afternoon of August 30.
“Apparently, one of the victim's mother, aged 31, has been told by her daughter's friend that her own daughter and her friends were hiding something that happened to them away from her,” he said.
Ramube said the mother then confronted her six-year-old daughter who revealed that her “uncle” made them watch pornographic videos with her friends.
“While watching, he would make them touch his aroused penis and fondled their private parts in return.”
Ramaube said the man allegedly told the minors not to talk to anybody about this and threatened to kill them. He said a case of sexual assault was under investigation.
The mother said the incident has left her feeling numb. “I blame myself for having not noticed that this man was busy abusing my daughter under my nose,” she said.
Another mother whose child was also allegedly abused said she was sickened by the cruelty of the man. “I innocently thought he enjoyed playing with children around the flat. Little did I know that he was also messing with my daughter,” she said.
The children will undergo counselling with their parents at the Teddy Bear Clinic, an organisation assisting children and parents going through the trauma of sexual and child abuse.
Engage with your children more to curb abuse
Parents should engage more often with their children on what they go through on a daily basis as a preventative measure for sexual abuse, says clinical psychologist Shaheda Omar.
Omar, who is also clinical director at the Teddy Bear Foundation, said engagement with children gives them the platform to be heard and not feel ignored.
“Listening to your child more often will help them speak freely about everything. Even when a child encounters signs of abuse they can be helped earlier,” she said.
According to Omar, because of work pressures, deadlines and home work, parents may miss the opportunity to take a few minutes and check how a child's day was. "Parents and children leave home early for work and school and as a society we need to have platforms at work and at schools that will keep the conversation ongoing when we are not with our children,” she said.
Omar said sex was not a social topic and that made it easy for the perpetrators to intimidate the minors and corner them into silence. "We need to challenge all parents and teachers to be able to educate children about the dangers they might be in and that could just be teaching a child about safe and unsafe touches and make them aware of their body organs."
Omar said the discussion should start from as early as between the ages of two-and-a-half to three years of age. "Children need to know where it is safe to be touched and where it's not. By asking them regularly where they have been touched can give parents red flags on time."
Omar said some of the signs of sexual abuse in children could be a change in behaviour, a lose bowel or bladder where the child cannot hold their urine, recurrent nightmares, constant weeping and a loss of interest in their school work or playing activities.
Omar stressed that sexual abuse can happen to anyone at any time. "Trust is an implicit element and parents should not blame themselves if abuse happens while they are not aware. Also, remind children that they are loved and tell them that it was not their fault," she said.
She said the people close to our families are usually the first to cause the pain. "It could be an uncle, friend, teacher, neighbour or even a stranger. But when children are educated and constantly engaged they won’t be simple targets."
