In memory of Dean....a very brave courageous little boy who was overlooked by the Law...
We called him our 'Deanie Bean'...he had the most beautiful smile....dirty blonde hair....deep azure blue eyes....but not in the calm way an azure ocean ebbs and flows....
....If you looked carefully, his azure eyes would reveal flickers of Truth....shards of pain piercing the façade....waves crashing against the raw reality of the horrendous sexual and physical abuse he'd endured from a young age.
My sister loved her step-son like he was her own. They worked tirelessly together, as Ritalin was traded for natural therapies for his ADHD, and together they faced the emotional challenges triggered by therapy. All this while she was being flung from fist to death threat trying to protect her children.
Finally it all came crashing down when the domestic violence escalated to beyond imaginable....after attempted murder, her and her biological children were put into safety....nobody thought about the two boys left behind - Dean and his brother.
Dean sobbed as his security and sense of stability were ripped away, but there was nothing my sister could do because legally she had no rights.
Over the years Dean kept in touch with her. Every time he phoned he was on high alert panicking that he's dad would find out.
....He called her, petrified and alone, when his dad threw him out of the car on a Johannesburg highway....
....He called her just to say that he missed her....
....He called her to tell her how much he loved her....
....He called her excitedly to tell her that he had found a job and that he had a girlfriend....
....He never called again....He was found dead from a Heroin overdose....only 21 years old.
WHERE was Justice for this child?
Why was it okay for a father to do what he did and get away with it?
Why was it okay for protection orders to be contravened with no consequence?
Why was it okay for the police to turn a mother and her children away in the rain because her husband was a colonel in the South African Police Force and Head of Ballistics?
Why was it okay to leave a 13-year old boy, already struggling, in a volatile unhealthy situation?
There's nothing okay about it!
I thought Laws were there to protect, especially children?
Deanie Bean....We talk about you often...
In your short life you touched our lives, and we will always hold you close...
You are loved. You live on in our hearts little warrior....Sorry for your pain and that Justice was not on your side.
We will do everything in our power to right your wrong xxx
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