A woman burst into tears in the Cape High Court on Tuesday during an angry outburst over the death of her teenage daughter, who was allegedly shot by the 64-year-old man who had fathered the girl’s baby.
A sobbing Isobel Kuboni (45) told acting Judge John Riley and assessors Willemina Swanepoel and Wessel Marais how she missed her 13-year-old daughter, Bernadette, and how the emotionally disturbed infant boy cried through the night, each night, in need of his mother.
Kuboni blurted: ”I miss my child very much — she was very pretty and looked after the baby extremely well. Bernie was never without her baby, and she loved him very much.”
In the dock is Moegamat Saiat Patrick (64), who has pleaded not guilty to murder, statutory rape (having sex with a girl under the age of consent) and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
According to prosecutor Penelope Magona, the girl left home at the age of 13 to live with Patrick, due to an unhappy relationship with her mother. She ignored repeated parental warnings about having a love relationship with a man of Patrick’s age, and then fell pregnant with his child.
Questioned by assessor Marais, the mother said she and her daughter had never discussed sexual matters, and she (the mother) was unaware whether Bernadette had had sex other than with Patrick.
Kuboni was questioned extensively by defence counsel Johan Benade. She said she was unhappy about her daughter living with Patrick. Her daughter often spoke about returning to her parents’ home, but was afraid to leave him.
Benade asked: ”So, you just left her with him?” The mother replied she had been waiting for the intervention of ”the welfare people”, because she could not get her daughter away from Patrick without help.
Kuboni said she had even laid a charge of abduction against Patrick, but nothing came of it as Bernadette told police she was not with Patrick against her will.
Abduction is the criminal offence of removing a minor from the care of his or her parents, with the purpose of a sexual relationship or marriage.
Asked if Bernadette could have been happy living with Patrick, she said: ”No, because he threatened her.”
Questioned by the judge, she said she had not been aware that her daughter was pregnant at the time she laid the abduction charge.
The hearing continues on Wednesday. — Sapa