A 38-year-old man that flung his toddler from the roof of his shack in the Joe Slovo settlement in Port Elizabeth is expected to appear in the New Brighton Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The father allegedly used the toddler as a shield to delay an operation in which police were demolishing shacks illegally built on municipal land. More than 90 structures, including the suspect’s, were demolished.
The father of the child was initially charged with attempted murder, but it was changed to a charge of child abuse just before his first court appearance last week. His legal representative, Mxolisi Moolman, will try to get his client released from custody saying the current charge is a schedule 1 offence.
The State requested the matter be postponed for the verification of the man’s address. Residents supporting the accused have refuted the claims that the father tossed the toddler, saying he was handing him over to his mother.
