Durban — KwaZulu-Natal police were on Wednesday still investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a 9-month-old boy who had a severe head injury and bleeding in the brain.
However, his mother believed that there was little or nothing being done by police as she believed that her son got the injury while in the care of a crèche in KwaMashu.
Nkanyezi Radebe was taken off life support machines after failing to wake from an induced coma on Valentine's Day.
“I have heard no progress on the investigation, the police have not come to get statements from the crèche. It’s like nothing happened,” said Nkanyezi’s mother, Pinky Ngcobo.
“When I phoned the investigating officer he tells me he is still waiting for the post-mortem. I want justice for my son. The teacher’s apology means nothing with no explanation.”
She said Nkanyezi began attending the crèche towards the end of January and that from the moment he started going there he would come home with bruises or small injuries, such as scratches or pinch marks.
Ngcobo said she had planned to take her son out of the crèche in March, returning him to the care of a nanny.
She said that one day her son came home with a bruise on his forehead that had markings that indicated that he had fallen on gravel.
“The next day after work I went there to find out what happened. The teacher at the crèche said the bruise was a result of the baby falling on the sofa, and she showed me the spot.
“She said that she rubbed his forehead and he was ‘okay’. She apologised saying she had forgotten to say to his father what had happened.”
Ngcobo said the following day when the baby returned from crèche there seemed to be something wrong.
“He seemed weak, not standing not playing – almost vegetable-like. I phoned the teacher, asking her what happened to my baby, describing what was going on with him. The teacher said maybe my son was coming down with a fever. I gave him medication. The next morning he was the same.”
She once again asked the teacher what had happened to her son. She was told to drop him off at the crèche where he would be monitored, and if anything were to happen, she (the teacher) would phone his father to have the child taken to the clinic.
“That day, I hear, she gave him Disprin! Now for someone who had a head injury bleeding and is also only 9 months old, you give them Disprin. Not long after he collapsed and the teacher brought him home to his father. At the clinic, they transferred him to a hospital. We were told that he had a severe head injury with bleeding on the brain,” said Ngcobo.
She said that Nkanyezi was put in an induced coma for two days, but he did not wake from it.
“Until this day I do not know what happened to him because the sofa story does not make sense. But I hear from other people that there was a game being played where the baby was tossed into the air and caught.”
Police spokesperson, Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said: “An inquest docket was opened at KwaMashu. The matter is under investigation.”
Daily News