View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository

[126]
psychologist O'Driscoll (1976) in Johannesburg. Play therapy can help the child if
combined with family therapy. The psychologist can try to answer questions, such
as :
•
•
•
What are the long term effects of child abuse ?
What kind of frustration leads to abuse ?
How is the potential abuser to be identified by using projective and
diagnostic tools such as MMPI ?
(7) The role of the police in child abuse
One of the sharpest differences in professional opinions may be seen in respect of the
police role in cases of child abuse because child abuse is not a crime according to the
ideology of the onlooker (Carter 1977). The police are frequently called in to
investigate cases of child abuse. The offender may be charged with the statutory
offence of contravening Section 18(1) of the Children's Act of 1960 which provides
that : " any person having the custody of a child who ill-treats, neglects, or abandons
that child or allows it to be ill-treated shall be guilty of an offence if, as a result of the
ill-treatment, etc. the child is likely to suffer unnecessarily, or any part or function of
its mind or body is likely to be injured or detrimentally affected, even though no such
suffering, injury or detriment has in fact been caused or even though the likelihood of
such suffering, etc. has been arrested by the action of another person."
If the child dies the offender may be charged with murder or culpable homicide. The
police have to investigate and decide whether the abuser should be prosecuted. There
is always a debate whether or not they should investigate every case or only those
where charges have been laid. Only the police have the facilities, the training, the skills
and the experience to conduct enquiries to arrive at the truth of what happened. And
only they should do this, as it is neither the job of the social worker nor the doctor to
do so (Martin 1981).