- A 19-year-old man from Wallacedene in Kraaifontein was arrested for assaulting his grandmother, an incident that was caught on video and went viral.
- The grandmother has been hospitalised for an unrelated ailment and declined to submit a statement.
- The police intervened and opened a case after the video circulated online.
A 19-year-old man from Wallacedene in Kraaifontein was arrested on Wednesday night for assaulting his grandmother.
In a video that went viral this week the man is seen slapping his grandmother across the face and over her head in the kitchen of her house. During the attack a pot of mealie porridge is knocked off the stove and the elderly women falls to her knees and he continues to threaten her.
The South African Government News agency reported the grandmother had since been hospitalised at Karl Bremer Hospital for an ailment unrelated to the assault and declined to submit a statement, according to Kraaifontein police.
In the video the man slaps the woman, who drops a pot of food to the ground.
As she lifts her head, the young man hits her behind the head again and she falls to the ground on her knees.
“Chola oko kutya (Pick up that food),” he is heard saying to the woman.
The woman says: “Undibulalela ntoni endlini yam,” asking the young man why he was killing her in her own house.
He continues to threaten the woman
“I will beat you. I will hurt you,” he says.
She replies: “Beat me to death, that’s what you have been sent to do. Kill me.”
Intervention
The police’s initial investigations revealed that the incident occurred in June at the residence of the victim.
“The police were summoned to the scene, but it is said the family took the matter into their own hands and refused police assistance,” the South African Police Service stated on its official Facebook page. “The severity of the matter was realised when a video of the incident was circulating on the internet and, on this basis, the police intervened and opened a case docket on behalf of the victim.
“Crimes against women and children are on the top of the police’s priority list and the police will not turn a blind eye to any form of violence in this regard.”
‘Heinous’
Chairman of the Kraaifontein Community Policing Forum Rob Bisset said this incident of elder abuse is heinous.
“The CPF views it in a very serious light and is calling for the harshest punishment to be issued in accordance with law,” he told TygerBurger on Friday morning before the court appearance. “It is shocking to see our elderly citizens being attacked by their younger family members. They cannot defend themselves against the youth of today.”
The suspect is currently in custody and set to make a court appearance once he has been charged.
