Little Nathan breathing on his own

Little Nathan Martin, 6, who was shot in the head, has been moved from the ICU and is now breathing on his own at the Frere Hospital in East London.

He has spent weeks in the ICU with a bullet wound to the head, allegedly at the hands of a bodyguard to Mnquma municipality mayor Thobeka Bikitsha.

The man, 31, cannot be named because it is still unclear whether he has appeared in court or not.

Family spokesman Kuvendrin Martin said Nathan was moved to a general ward last week, where his condition continues to improve.

“He is now breathing on his own. There are no movements, although he does open his eyes. Nathan is a fighter,” said Kuvendrin.

Butterworth police spokesman Jackson Manatha had previously told the Daily Dispatch that the bodyguard appeared in the Butterworth Magistrate’s Court on December 4 to face attempted murder charges.

However, National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesman Luxolo Tyali yesterday said this was not the case. “He has not yet been charged in court. The matter was sent back to the police for further investigation,” Tyali said.

Yesterday, Manatha said: “We charged him with attempted murder after he handed himself over to police and took him to court.

“If the court released him, we don’t know on what grounds he was released. We did our part.”

The family has voiced its concern at the absence of development in the case against the bodyguard.

Kuvendrin said they had not been kept abreast with the progress of the case, and neither had they been informed of whether the municipality had launched an internal probe, as it had promised to do. “We haven’t really received any information regarding how the case is proceeding. We understand there should be at least two cases running because he was using a service pistol and he shot a six-year-old boy in the head with it,” Kuvendrin said.

Bikitsha visited Nathan just days after the shooting, and through her spokesman Loyiso Mpalantshane indicated that the municipality would institute a disciplinary process against the bodyguard.

Bikitsha could not be reached for comment yesterday. Her phone rang unanswered and she did not respond to text messages asking for comment. Acting municipal manager Kulile Clock referred the Dispatch to Mpalatshane, who said it was a “sensitive matter” and the municipality was “still investigating internally”.

The bullet – alleged to have been fired by the unnamed bodyguard, who is the family’s neighbour in Reservoir Hills in Butterworth – came ripping through their shared prefab wall earlier this month, and is still lodged in the child’s brain.

The bullet burnt his mother Dephney’s cheek before entering the child’s skull. — DDR