A 12-year-old boy living in the Camp Caval region, Curepipe was taken into the care of the Child Development Unit (CDU) on the evening of Sunday, August 5. This after he went to the local police station to report his father and stepmother for mistreatment. Since Friday August 3, he was left to himself and without food, his father and his stepmother having abandoned him alone at home. They came back late Sunday evening.
It was in the presence of a Protection and Welfare Officer that this boy gave his statement to the Curepipe police station around 11 p.m. In his complaint he explained that it is not the first time that his parents have left him alone at home. As punishment his father inflicted blows on him with a stick. The little boy also testified that his father and stepmother were selling synthetic drugs in his presence.
Friday, September 3, his father and stepmother left and they did not come back until Sunday evening. He was thus left to himself and without food. It was then that he went to the police station to seek help. It was then that the police called the CDU to pick up the little boy. The latter was subsequently taken to Jawaharlall Nehru Hospital in Rose-Belle where he was admitted.
Shortly after midnight on Monday, September 6, the couple went to the Curepipe police station. After an investigation, the father and the stepmother were placed in cells respectively at the police station of Curepipe and at the detention centre of Vacoas. This Monday morning, they will be brought before the court of Curepipe. They respond to a provisional charge of child ill-treatment.
