A 22-year-old woman is expected to appear in court tomorrow (14 July) for allegedly throwing boiling water at five-year-old Unako Kala.
She faces a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (assault GBH). It is alleged the woman threw water at the child to deter him from playing on the gate of her house.
The shocking incident happened on Saturday 24 June at Settlers in Langa.
Langa Police Station spokesperson Capt Nondumiso Paul said the woman was arrested on Thursday 6 July. She appeared at the Bishop Lavis Magistrates’ Court on Friday 7 July and was remanded in police custody. She is expected to appear again tomorrow.
In an interview with City Vision, Yonela Mnyombolo, the victim’s aunt, said the family wanted justice to prevail. She said Unako is recovering at home.
Mnyombolo said she was heartbroken by the incident. She accused the perpetrator for being heartless. “What happened to Unako was bad. He was burned in the face and on the left arm. I could see that he was suffering with pains,” said Mnyombolo.
Mnyobolo said what hurt her the most was lack of remorse from the perpetrator’s family. She stated that the suspect’s relatives came to apologise two weeks later.
“The incident occurred on Saturday 24 June. My nephew came with his friends crying. Immediately, my younger sister took him and went back to the house where the incident occurred to find out what happened before she took him to the clinic. From the clinic they went to the police station to open the case,” explained Mnyombolo, adding that the officers told them that there were no vans.
On Monday 28 June, the officers came back and asked her younger sister to show them the house where the incident occurred. She claimed while the suspect was at home with her father the officers did not arrest her and left without saying a word.
On Wednesday last week, the suspect’s family came to apologise after allegedly seeing the images of Unako trending on social media.
“They came on Wednesday 5 July for the first time after the incident happened after almost two weeks to apologise. They (parents) said they were at the funeral when the incident happened. And I’m asking myself what they were doing all along?” asked Mnyombolo and called for justice to be served for Unako.
