The family of eight-year-old Grade 3 pupil Ento Ngobeni is reeling with shock after a female neighbour had allegedly hacked the child with a panga and sucked the blood from his raw wounds.

The incident took place last Monday.

During Limpopo Mirror's visit to the family in Waterval earlier this week, Ento's grandmother and guardian, Ms Tintswalo Hlongwane (55), told the newspaper that the family was still traumatised after the ghastly incident.

“My grandson's peers rushed into my house and informed me that a woman had locked my grandson inside her house and that he was screaming for help,” said Hlongwane. She and her daughter, Blessing, immediately ran to her neighbour's stand and knocked on the door and tried to open it, but the kitchen door was locked.

They said that they had knocked and shouted out the woman's name, begging her to open the door. All along they could hear Ento screaming from inside the house. “When the door was finally opened, there in the doorway, she was on her knees, staring up at us with pleading eyes,” said Hlongwane. “She said, 'Sesi Maggie, ni vavisile n'wana (My sister Maggie, I have injured the child)'. Her cheeks and lips were covered with fresh blood.”

Hlongwane and Blessing finally managed to get through to young Ento, who had been locked inside the indoor toilet. “We couldn't believe what we saw; he had been hacked on the head and hand with a sharp panga,” Ento's aunt, Blessing (23), explained.

Ento was rushed to Elim Hospital for medical attention. “He told us that the woman had hacked him, pulled him closer and sucked his blood,” said Hlongwane.

Hlongwane further revealed that the very woman had once snatched Ento and run away with him when he was only two years old. The family chased her and recovered the child. “A rumour has it that she is mentally unstable, but we don't believe that – how come she only selected to torture our child in this manner? There are many children in Waterval; why our child? There's more to this,” said Hlongwane. “We don't know what she sees in our child. This woman is doing the work of Satanists. She needs prayers and spiritual counselling.”

Hlongwane said that the family believed that God had protected their child from being killed by the woman. “Had it not been for God's angels who protected Ento, she could have proceeded to kill him,” said Blessing.

“My nephew told us that after she had sucked his blood, she lifted the panga to hack him again, but she started trembling, rolled her eyes strangely and her panga fell down. That was when she decided to just lock him in the toilet.”

The spokesperson for the Limpopo police, Capt Maano Sadiki, confirmed that a 58-year-old woman had been arrested and charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. She has since appeared in the Waterval Magistrate's Court and was granted R2 000 bail. “So far she hasn't posted bail, and she remains in custody,” said Sadiki. “She will appear in court again on 28 February. We cannot comment on the state of mind of the victim as this matter is pending further investigations.”