Clinical Psychology, Annelie Olivier, says that the child not being able to testify should not stop the case from going further(SABC)
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The parents of a Roodepoort girl are desperate for police to act after their child disclosed she had been molested at her pre-school.
Police declined to open a case saying the 4-year-old was too young to testify. A psychologist treating the child has confirmed she found evidence of abuse.
The mother blames herself for not being able to protect her toddler.
"She was playing a strange game in the bathtub and when I asked why she was doing what she was doing she said that it is a game that she plays with her friend at school. She later told me that this friend of hers is a grown man and that he hurts her," says the victim’s mother.
The devastating disclosure was just the start of their ordeal. Efforts to get police to act drew a blank as they were told that a case could not be opened because the girl is too young to testify.
The South African Police Service's Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale says, "We talked to the victim, we could not open up a case. The Family Violence, Child Abuse and Sexual Offences (FCS) units members went and listened in order to try and obtain a statement from the child. They informed the parents they can't make a statement."
But, Clinical Psychologist Annelie Olivier did a forensic assessment on the victim. She found evidence of abuse and presented it to authorities, but nothing came of it.
Olivier says she explained to the police why the child could not testify, but that they should not stop further action being taken.
Police have now launched an inquiry.
