Boy discharged six months after horror assault
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Wednesday January 18, 2017 15:28
Ditiro Jerry fell into a coma last June after Mohammed Hussein Molla allegedly brutally assaulted him for playing with his (Molla’s) child in Mogoditshane. The case made headlines, as the boy fought for his life in local and South African hospitals, spending most of the time on life support.
The Broadhurst Magistrate court yesterday heard that Jerry is now with his parents, but on assisted breathing, through a tube. He was discharged in December.
Magistrate Wame Mosugelo extended Molla’s remand saying the court will await an update on the victim’s condition from Princess Marina Hospital (PMH).
Molla is facing one count of grievous bodily harm for critically injuring Jerry and landing him in Intensive Care Unit for months with breathing complications following an assault on June 13, 2016.
The accused has been in custody since he was arrested in July 2016 as the court waits for the boy’s condition to improve. Jerry, meanwhile, has been in and out of hospitals in Botswana and South Africa.
Yesterday the prosecution told the court that a medical doctor who was overseeing the boy’s surgery and his time in the ICU will be available on January 24, 2017 to update the court on the victim’s condition.
“We have talked to the doctor and he will be available in court to give an update on the boy’s condition on January 24.
We apply that the remand warrant of the accused be extended,” said Mositi Seragi of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. The accused’s attorney was absent in court. Asked by the magistrate where his attorney was, Molla said the representative would be present in the next court appearance. The case continues on January 24, 2017.