Boyfriend held for tot’s fatal beating

A 21-year-old Joburg man has bean arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend’s 11-month-old baby to death.

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Johannesburg - Johannesburg central police this week arrested a 21-year-old man at the fire station on the corner of Kruis and Frederick streets in the city for the alleged murder of an 11-month-old child, Gauteng police said on Sunday.

It was alleged that the suspect assaulted his girlfriend’s 11-month-old boy in a shack at the Madondo informal settlement on the corner of Von Wielligh and Wemmer Jubilee streets on September 17, spokesman Warrant Officer Xoli Mbele said in a statement.

The child’s mother was doing washing outside when she allegedly heard her boyfriend screaming at the child.

“Suddenly it was quiet inside the shack. When the mother came inside the shack, (her) boyfriend told her that the child is sleeping, and he (then) changed his statement (saying) that he (had) fainted.”

The child had bruises on the head and all over his body.

They took the child to the fire station where paramedics declared him dead. The man allegedly tried to run away but was apprehended after the police were contacted, Mbele said.

A police investigation was underway and the suspect would appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

African News Agency