Human Interest
Pastor Mboro to lay charges against paramedics after child dies at church─── 08:51 Wed, 27 Dec 2017
Controversial pastor Paseka "Mboro" Motsoeneng is to lay charges of culpable homicide against paramedics, claiming that they wasted time berating a mother instead of helping her ill child, who eventually died.
According to Mboro, when paramedics arrived on scene on Sunday, he begged them to give the sickly child oxygen and other emergency treatment.
Instead, the paramedics "wasted a lot of time reprimanding the mother and accusing [her] of neglecting her child".
Church vs clinic
"Also, without taking a medical history of the child from the mother, and without asking why the mother took the child to the church for help, the paramedics simply accused the mother of failing to take the child to the clinic," Mboro said in a statement.
"I told the paramedics that the child appeared to be dehydrated and needed immediate attention but the paramedics simply ignored me and continued to berate the distraught mother."
Mboro said the mother had brought the very sick child to see him.
"All I did was to insist that the child must be helped, which the EMS personnel failed to do," Mboro alleged.
Charges of culpable homicide
He said he would be laying charges of culpable homicide on Wednesday.
The pastor made the statement in response to a statement from the Ekurhuleni Emergency Management Services (EMS), in which they alleged that Mboro had assaulted one of the paramedics with the support of the congregation.
EMS spokesperson, William Ntladi, said an ambulance crew was called to Pastor Motsoeneng's church in Katlehong around 11:34 on Sunday.
"On arrival, the crew took all relevant medical equipment with [them] into the church building for patient assessment and treatment. Before they could do anything, the pastor [already had] the child in his hands [preparing] to load what seemed to be a lifeless body in the ambulance," said Ntladi.
Female ambulance driver manhandled
"Confrontation immediately started between the crew and the pastor during which a female ambulance driver was manhandled on the scene by the pastor, supported by the congregation."
While backup was called, "the terrified driver had to jump and lock herself in the fire engine for her safety as members of the church were vying for her blood, shouting abusive language as well," Ntladi added.
The child was declared dead in the ambulance and another driver had to be sent to the scene to transport the body to the government mortuary in Germiston. The paramedic, who was allegedly assaulted, was hospitalised, Ntladi added.
Mboro denied the allegations and said no emergency personnel were attacked. He said all the church members who were present could confirm that.
Mboro accused the department of going to the media to cover themselves and "shift attention from their clear negligence, in that they failed to render the necessary assistance to the distressed innocent child, who lost her life because the EMS personnel failed to give her the required oxygen that she so desperately needed".
Ntladi could not be reached for comment regarding the charges.
