By Lerato Serero

SHARPEVILLE. - Uncles are supposed to be loving and caring, especially toward their nephews and nieces, but this one has showed neither mercy nor love when he struck his 21-year-old nephew with a five-pound hammer and broke his arm over an empty orange sack in Sharpeville recently.

It appears that Sophonia Ngoepe, a Grade 11 student at Jet Nteo Secondary School in Boipatong, who together with his uncle are originally from Pretoria, has been abused by the uncle before.

Ngoepe and his uncle, who is a motor mechanic, rent a room in Sharpeville. This is where recently, after his normal daily routine, the uncle wanted to wash his oily hands with an empty orange sack - something that he normally does.

Ngoepe says that he then told the uncle that he did not know where the sack was. This was when the uncle took the five-pound hammer and hit him on his left hand, breaking it, leaving it to require an operation and to eventually be plastered.

"He hit me with the hammer for just saying that I do not know where the sack was. After that he just threw me out. I have nowhere to go, I have no one around here," says a seemingly disorientated Ngoepe.

The young man is currently staying with friends, as his uncle, the only relative around Sedibeng, is the one who brought him to the area two years ago.

Ngoepe’s saga was noticed by Boipatong SAPS Social Crime Prevention Sergeant Simon Mofokatsane, who then advised the young man to open a case. After opening the case the young man went back to his uncle’s home apparently to make some peace, but the uncle again told him to go away and only come back with the police that he has reported the case to, as well as the teachers from his school whom he had told about the abuse.

Police spokesperson Inspector Aubrey Moopeloa says that this is a serious case of abuse and assault. "A case of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm was opened with the Boipatong police and was transferred to Sharpeville SAPS. We are expecting to make an arrest soon, as the suspect is known."

Police are also trying to find a shelter for the young man, as he apparently also cannot go back to Mamelodi where it is believed that he was also in the same abusive conditions.