Pretoria - Sipho Nkosi, accused of slashing the throat of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Mamelodi, did not appear in court yesterday due to a miscommunication.
The 31-year-old was scheduled to make his third appearance in Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court on a charge of attempted murder.
Nkosi’s name did not appear on the list of suspects who had to appear in court, instead, his name appeared on the Silverton court roster.
The case was then postponed to next Monday, but despite the setback, the father of the victim said he believed that justice would be served.
“We are still hanging in there hoping that justice is served because we can hear in court that there is a condition of law. They were supposed to bring the suspect to court, but he has other cases that he is trialled for,“ said the father, whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of the child.
“That is the reason that he could not be here today, but we are grateful for the support we are given by the community and various organisations.
“The government is doing its job and like I said before, this person has been arrested before. How do you let someone like that back on to the streets? We just want justice to be served.
“We can’t have someone who is dangerous roaming the streets, ready to kill innocent people.
“He still has people who want to free him so that he can do those things again.
This is wrong; it will never be right.”
The girl is reportedly recovering well from the attack.
Themba Masango of #NotInMyName, who was outside court in support of the family, said Nkosi had another case of gender-based violence he had been arrested for in Silverton.
Masango said so far, the case was being handled well. “The prosecutor handling the case is competent and we have full faith in our justice system.
“As the community, we are calling for justice and we are praying that the young girl recovers,” Masango said.
Nkosi last appeared in court on May 5 when he abandoned his bail application.
The case was at the time postponed to yesterday, pending investigations and for outstanding reports to be submitted.
According to police, the man and the mother of the minor were in a relationship. It is alleged that on April 24 the couple had gone to a funeral where an argument broke out between them.
The following day, while the mother of the minor went to a nearby car wash, the accused went to a house where she stayed to try to work things out. When he arrived, he found the minor with her grandmother.
It is alleged that the accused took a butcher’s knife in the kitchen and slashed the throat of the minor.
He was arrested after he handed himself over at the Hammanskraal Police Station under a false charge of assault.
Pretoria News