Not knowing any better, a mother thought that caning was the only way to control her teenage, mentally-retarded daughter who was sexually abused by her brother and beaten by the father.
“No court can ignore a parent that, to correct a child, beats her with a wooden stick”, Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani ruled, noting that the family was living in a “nightmare situation”.
In conditionally discharging the mother for 18 months, the magistrate ordered that the woman is given lessons in coping and in parental skills. In addition, probation officers had to report directly to the magistrate every four months on the progress registered by the woman.
The mother, who is not being named to protect the family’s identity, was accused of beating and slightly injuring her daughter and of being an accomplice in the sexual abuse of the girl in May 2002.
The case came to light when a social worker informed the police that the girl started to speak about what life was like for her at home.
The girl was saying that both her mother and her father beat her with a wooden stick and that her 15-year-old brother had sexually abused her.
The father has since been given a suspended jail term for beating her and the brother, who was dealt with in the Juvenile Court, was placed under probation for three years.
The mother’s IQ was so low that she did not know how to deal with her teenage daughter who, at the age of 10, already had the body of an 18-year-old.
The girl also had severe learning difficulties and a speech impediment.
The magistrate, who followed the girl’s progress over a number of years, noted in her judgement that the mother had to cope with a son who had sexually abused his sister.
She also had to deal with a husband who had also beaten his daughter. She had to face such a complex situation even if her standard of education was not that good either. From a socio-economic viewpoint, the family was well below average. Their standard of education left a lot to be desired and their IQs were also well below average.
To exacerbate matters, the girl had developed prematurely, suffered from mental retardation and had a severe speech impediment, which limited her communication skill.
The girl would walk around the house half naked, leave the bathroom not fully clothed after having a shower and would lie on her bed in just her panties
In trying to correct her behaviour, the mother would resort to beating her with a cane, the magistrate said.
Having a limited education and a low IQ, the mother did not know any better but to act the way she did with her daughter.
She did not even know that help was available, whether through support agencies or psychologists, the magistrate said.
The magistrate concluded that there was no evidence to support the charge that the woman had sexually abused or had been an accomplice in such behaviour against her daughter.
The daughter is now being cared for in a residential home.