Daily Sun (February 3 2015) - A TAXI drove by, a stone was thrown and a window was broken. But the angry people in the taxi demanded
revenge. They didn't accept these were just the actions of naughty boys playing a stupid game.
NOW A YOUNG BOY MAY LIVE THE REST OF HIS LIFE WITH SCARS ON HIS BUM AS A REMINDER OF HIS DAY OF AGONY.
Why one of the boys playing in the streets of Orange Farm, south of Joburg, threw a rock at a passing taxi is not known.
What is known is the rock struck, and broke, a side window on the taxi.
The taxi owner decided to punish Aphiwe Khweza (8) by allegedly forcing him to sit on a battery leaking acid.
The boy's gogo, Muriel Khweza (59) said she was at home watching TV when seven men, all about 30 years old, arrived at her house.
"They told me I must pay for the damage my grandson has caused," she said.
"I was willing to give them whatever they wanted so they wouldn't hurt Aphiwe. But then I found out they had already hurt the boy."
She said Aphiwe showed her his painful and blistered buttocks.
"When I asked him he told how he was tortured," she said.
Aphiwe told Daily Sun his horror story.
"First they beat me with a belt. They said they would kill me and throw my body into a deep hole where no one will ever find me. I tried to tell them I was innocent but they didn't listen," said Aphiwe.
"They made me sit on the taxi's battery which was covered in acid. It felt like it took forever for them to take me to the bushes."
Aphiwe said it wasn't him who threw the stone.
"My friend from next door threw the stone but his father took him away," he said.
When they eventually got to the bushes they beat him again and then left him there, returning later in another vehicle. That's when they picked him up and went to his gogo's house, demanding compensation.
The child's mother, Nokwanda Khweza (31) who lives and works in Tarlton, said she received a call that her child had been attacked.
"How can someone do this to a child? I feel like taking revenge right now by hurting the people who burnt my son," she said.
"I want the police to act and punish the culprits."
Gogo Muriel said her grandson is always in pain. He can't sit, walk or sleep at night.
"He screams all night. Sometimes he jumps out of the bed because it burns so much," she said.
"He is traumatised. He seriously needs counselling for what he has gone through."
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant Kay Makhubela said an assault case was opened at Orange Farm police station.
He said one person has been arrested so far and will be appearing in court soon.
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