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- Taswell Louw has been sentenced to an effective 18 years in jail for the murder of his stepson Jeremiah and the severe neglect of the child's brother, Cheslyn.
- The children's mother Renzia, who was acquitted of the murder, was sentenced to an effective five years in jail for neglecting the children.
- The court ordered that their names be entered into the National Child Protection Register.
A man has been jailed for 18 years for the murder of his stepson and the severe neglect of another child, while the children's mother has been sentenced to five years for neglect.
This comes after the Western Cape High Court convicted Louw of the murder of 3-year-old Jeremiah Speak as well as the neglect of the child and his brother, Cheslyn. The court acquitted their mother, Renzia, of the murder but convicted her of the neglect charges.
In handing down their sentences, Judge Deidre Kusevitsky said:
Retracing the evidence presented in the case, she said that to the outside world, little Jeremiah's father, Taswell Louw, was deeply religious.
He had turned over a new leaf while in prison for housebreaking, and met Renzia while out on parole.
She was drawn to him because of his faith and because he accepted her and her children from two previous relationships.
One of her children lived with his father, and the other two lived with Louw and Renzia in a wendy house.
In spite of warnings that she should not to marry Louw, Renzia went ahead with the wedding and within days, he beat her.
But to the outside world, Louw was the stepfather who took the tiny tot, also known as Germia, with him to hospital wards when he ministered to the sick.
Kusevitsky said:
The couple went to church almost every night, but they left Jeremiah and his then 8-year-old brother alone in the dark wendy house.
Their landlady would try to comfort the boys, pushing food through a window that had been pried open.
The landlady also found the older boy curled up on the sand crying one night when the couple was at church. Renzia did not even search for the boy when the landlady took him in for the night.
Kusevitsky said that Louw was unemployed, and his only task was to look after Jeremiah, and make sure his brother was dressed, fed and went to school.
He did so between December 2016 and February 2017, when Jeremiah was eventually admitted to hospital for serious injuries.
However, Louw had a short temper, and would lash out at Jeremiah.
READ | Case against mother and stepfather of abused boy, 3, delayed by post-mortem report
When he was trying to potty train him he would hit him if he soiled his nappy.
One night he threw hot water at the toddler's face and then made him sit in a basin of cold water.
The court also heard that, the older boy's father found him wandering through the streets by himself one evening, and when he went to confront his ex-girlfriend about it, Louw threw a cup at him.
If anyone asked why Jeremiah was crying, Louw would say that he was "just being naughty".
Eventually, Jeremiah vomited and became feverish. But his mother still didn't seek treatment for him.
It was only days later that she took him to a doctor and lied about what had happened to him.
READ MORE | Stepfather of badly abused boy may be referred for psychiatric evaluation
When she eventually took him to a hospital, he was dehydrated and suffering from severe injuries as a result of abuse.
He had to have several operations, and had severe eye and brain damage.
He suffered from sepsis and heart failure, and died after a year in special care as a result of his injuries.
Kusevitsky referred extensively to case law in deciding whether to send Renzia to jail, given that she has two other children with a new boyfriend and is pregnant with a third, making her responsible for six children.
Kusevitsky said the mother tried to blame everybody but herself for what happened to the child, and it seemed that she hoped she would not be held accountable because she had more children while out on bail.
She rejected submissions that Renzia was scared of Louw, saying she had left the fathers of her first three children. She left the one because he had cheated on her, and the other because he was rude to her family.
The judge accepted that Renzia had a difficult life, but said other people in dire circumstances did not abuse and neglect their children.
Kusevitsky said:
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the court sentenced Renzia to eight years for the abuse of Jeremiah, wholly suspended for five years on condition that she was not convicted of a similar charge. She was also sentenced to five years in jail for two counts of neglect, which relate to Jeremiah's brother.
The court ordered that her name be entered into the National Child Protection Register and it ordered the national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services to ensure that a social worker from the Department of Social Development visits her remaining children at least once a month and report on whether they need care and protection.
Louw was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of Jeremiah, 12 years' imprisonment for child abuse of Germia and his brother and six years' imprisonment for child neglect. The court ordered that the sentences imposed for child abuse and child neglect run concurrently with the sentence imposed for murder. He is effectively serving 18 years in prison.
The court also declared Louw unsuitable to work with children and ordered that his name be entered into the National Child Protection Register.
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