Rudman and Schoeman On Trial For Death Of Their 2mo Son

[Tundratot]

Johannesburg - The trial of 33-year-old Marissa Rudman and her 29-year-old boyfriend Nolan Schoeman, accused of bashing their two-month-old baby to death, is expected to start in the High Court in Pretoria on Monday.

The accused face charges of murder and child abuse. According to the charge sheet, they allegedly abused their two-month-old son Wade since his birth.

The baby was admitted to hospital in March 2009 with pneumonia. Rudman allegedly discharged him herself and refused further medical treatment.

The baby was admitted to another hospital a week later, but was by then critically ill and had multiple injuries, some of which were allegedly already healing. The baby died on April 7, 2009, from a head injury.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-cour...ourt-1.1276426

The baby also had a broken arm, a rib fracture, extensive soft tissue injuries and multiple brain haemorrhages.

. . .

She claimed she had not been aware that Schoeman was abusing the children and immediately took the baby to hospital when she became aware that Schoeman had abused him.

Schoeman also denied assaulting the baby boy or the other child.

He said in his plea explanation he had loved Wade, who was "the light of his life", and had not ill-treated the child nor been aware of anyone else ill-treating him.

However, Schoeman admitted that he had failed in his responsibility to see to it that the child was not abused because of his drug-taking lifestyle.

. . .

A family member of the other child - who is now nine years old and living with his father - testified that Rudman and Schoeman had more bad than good times in their relationship.

. . .

He said the couple often fought and there was a lot of verbal and physical abuse.

He had once seen that Schoeman with a ripped shirt and blood on his face and he saw Rudman with black eyes more than once.

He said the child had become withdrawn and looked "pretty scared" all the time, but he had not seen injuries on the boy.

On one occasion, he saw Schoeman "irritating" the boy by constantly throwing a ball at him, and humiliating him in front of other children by pulling down his pants.

Schoeman had also shoved a plant into the young boy’s mouth, causing him to vomit.

The witness said Rudman had asked Schoeman to stop, but he had ignored her.

He said the couple had often asked him for financial and other help and that Rudman had phoned him in April and asked him to fetch the other child, as Wade was in hospital.

. . .

Schoeman said the couple fell to their knees when he told them their baby had died. Rudman started to cry.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...guilt-20120418

[Tundratot]

The doctor describes a horrific litany of injuries on Wade:

A Pretoria mother accused of murdering her baby son sobbed, shook her head and rocked back and forth with her head between her arms on Thursday as a surgeon described her baby's injuries in court.

. . .

He was in a critical condition with convulsions, an eye swollen shut and visible bruises on his head and body when he was admitted, neurosurgeon Dr John Samuels testified in the High Court in Pretoria.

He was told that the parents had noticed blue marks on the baby's head and thought a spider might have bitten him, but he said it was clear that the baby had suffered blunt trauma to the head and chest.

X-rays revealed that the baby had two broken arms and various broken ribs that were a few weeks old and had already started to heal.

The baby's lung was bruised, which must have been caused by a direct blow to the chest as babies' ribs were soft and did not break easily.

The brain was bleeding in several places and there was such massive swelling that moisture was being forced out of the brain. The bones of the skull had pulled apart and parts of the brain had already died.

A membrane under the child's upper lip was torn, suggesting child abuse or severe facial trauma. He was of the opinion that the head injury was caused by a massive blow to the skull.

Marks around the baby's face and chest had the form of fingers, which even a layman would have been able to see with the naked eye.

Blood tests revealed underlying infection, shock and tissue damage. The baby was immediately moved to the intensive care unit where a team of neurosurgeons treated him, but his condition steadily deteriorated.

Samuels testified that he phoned hospital security and the police after receiving a phone call from a senior nurse at the intensive care unit who told him baby Wade's family wanted to discharge him, and that his father had taken control of the unit and was refusing to let anyone get near the baby.

. . .

He testified that the brain bleeding would have been immediately obvious to a mother, and was already about five to seven days old when the baby was brought to the hospital.

He said the baby would have had a 60 percent chance of survival if his brain injury had been treated surgically within the first four hours of it being sustained, but the chances of mortality rose with every hour and day thereafter.

Samuels said there was no chance that the baby would have been discharged within a day or two. Asked about Rudman's conduct eight days earlier, when she discharged her baby, against medical advice, from the Pretoria West hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia, Samuels said this was “very dangerous” because babies' conditions deteriorated quickly.

Rudman's lawyer put it to Samuels that she become aware of bruises on the baby's head only the day before she took him to the Steve Biko Hospital. She thought the bruises had been caused by a “struggle” to insert a drip into the baby's head at the previous hospital.

. . .

A family member testified that Rudman and Schoeman had both used the drug cat (methcathinone), but said he was not aware of Rudman's contention that she had stopped using it when she fell pregnant with Wade.

He said Schoeman had worked as a personal trainer at a gym, but that Rudman was the main provider and dominant figure in the troubled relationship, which was marked by arguments and physical attacks from both sides.

Schoeman's lawyer put it to the witness that his client had used drugs in order to cope with Rudman's attacks.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-cour...ears-1.1280155

[Tundratot]

In her testimony, Rudman said she noticed swelling on Wade's head, a thumb mark on his forehead and redness around his nose, but no other marks when she bathed him on the day he was admitted to hospital.

However, Schoeman had been in and out of the baby's room and she suspected he was using drugs.

When she “received a report” that Schoeman had hurt the baby she jumped up and found him standing with Wade, lifeless, in his arms.

She told the court she “became hysterical” and left the room. The baby then screamed “in a strange manner”.

She said the baby was having a fit, and she insisted on taking him to hospital.

At the hospital, a nurse wanted to know if she had dropped Wade, but she denied doing so. Schoeman “nearly attacked” the nurse and shouted at her, she said. . . .

Rudman testified that the only signs of illness she had noticed were a stuffed nose, “a bit of a breathing problem” and that her baby was struggling to drink.

She said she had never seen Schoeman assault the baby apart from a “little tap on the bum” and had believed in her heart that he loved their son and would not hurt him.

http://www.thepost.co.za/abused-baby...eepy-1.1282127

A mother accused of murdering her two-month-old son said she started to suspect the child was being abused days before his death.

Marissa Rudman (36), who testified in her own defence on Monday, blamed her co-accused and former partner Nolan Schoeman (32) for murdering the infant.

Baby Wade died in 2009.

Rudman cried uncontrollably in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

But Judge Cynthia Pretorius told the accused she was not impressed by her tears.

http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/Story.aspx?Id=87020

Rudman’s former brother-in-law, Dean Collings, testified that Rudman and Schoeman had a stormy relationship.

“There were some good times, but a lot of bad times. There was a lot of physical and verbal abuse.”

Schoeman often sought refuge at his home after a fight. At times his shirt was torn and he was full of blood, after Rudman had assaulted him, Collings said. Rudman often had bruises received from Schoeman.

Collings told the court that Rudman had phoned him at least twice, asking him to assist her as the baby was ill and she wanted to take him to hospital.

On one occasion when he arrived at their house Schoeman banged with a knife on the kitchen table, saying “someone has been at my baby”, Collings said.

One day he witnessed Schoeman continuously throwing a soccer ball at the baby. Rudman told him to stop, but he continued, Collings said.

http://www.thepost.co.za/drug-users-...baby-1.1279850

[Tundratot]

A boy told a Pretoria court on Friday how he saw murder-accused Nolan Schoeman punch a sleeping baby on the head.

The 9-year-old testified by means of closed-circuit television in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, with the help of an intermediary, in the trial of Schoeman, 32, and Marissa Rudman, 36.

. . .

The boy, who may not be identified, testified that Wade "was in heaven because Nolan hurt him".

"I saw Nolan hit baby Wade on the head with the fist. I can't remember what happened after that.

"Baby Wade was sleeping. He was still sleeping after he was hit," he said.

This happened in the bedroom. Rudman was in the lounge when it happened.

The child could not say whether Wade was ill, but said the baby had cried "quite often".

The child testified that Schoeman had always been mean to him and was not nice to Rudman either.

He had often seen Schoeman choking Rudman and also once saw him hit her on the forehead with an iron.

"I saw choking, slapping and punching. Nolan was doing the punching and [Rudman] was doing the slapping... There was a lot of blood.

"I was screaming during the fights. I asked the security guards for help," he said.

The child said no-one had ever hurt him and he told the court he felt "weird" and confused.

He turned his back, refused to answer questions and shook off the interpreter when asked questions about Schoeman.

He became visibly upset when counsel for Schoeman asked him if he knew that Schoeman loved him, and later said through the intermediary that Schoeman did not like him and that it was a lie. . . .

Forensic pathologist Dr Christina Cronjé testified that Wade died of head injuries caused by blunt force non-accidental violence consistent with a blow or blows with a fist.

. . .

Cronjé testified that the bones of babies were more elastic than those of adults and it would have taken significant force to break a bone.

Photos of the baby's feet showed "strange" injuries that were not normal in a baby, but the pathologist could not say what had caused them.

There were also clearly visible abrasions on the baby's forearm that looked as if they might have been caused by a nail and were an older injury.

She said the total picture of the baby's injuries and the different ages of the injuries fitted with non-accidental injury syndrome, indicating abuse.

Cronjé said she could find no signs that medical negligence could have caused baby Wade's death.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...hears-20120420

[Momzilla]

This story is heartbreaking & infuriating! RIP baby Wade, I will never forget your name or your story.

Apr. 26. 2012 1:57pm

‘

" I would love to know who did this to my baby son… When this case is over I am going to investigate who did this.” Nolan Schoeman made this vow while testifying at his murder trial yesterday.
He and his partner, Marissa Rudman, deny that they were responsible for the injuries that led to the death of their two-month-old son, Wade, on April 7, 2009, at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital.
Both are adamant that they did not see any injuries on the baby, apart from “slight bruises” around his head.

The infant’s forearms were broken, he had 22 fractures to his ribs, and brain injuries that were so severe that by the time he got to hospital, part of his brain was dying.
Neither Schoeman nor Rudman “realised” that their baby was going into a coma when they bathed him on the night he was rushed to hospital.
They told the Pretoria High Court that they noticed the baby was quieter, but realised something was seriously wrong only when he suddenly made a strange, high-pitched, screeching sound and had convulsions.

After being told by the hospital that the baby had been abused, Rudman suspected Schoeman, but continued living with him for two years after they had been arrested and released on bail.

Schoeman testified yesterday that he loved Rudman dearly and had not suspected her of hurting the baby.
However, when she asked him whether he had abused the baby, he assaulted her, he said.
“We then mutually agreed that neither of us killed Wade,” Schoeman said.
He said the couple remained together happily until Schoeman’s bail was revoked because he did not pitch up at court.

When he phoned Rudman from prison, she suddenly did not want to have anything to do with him, he testified.
Rudman, who referred to the baby’s father as a sadist, said earlier that she suspected Schoeman, but was “too afraid of him” to confront him further about whether he was responsible.

Schoeman testified that his “number one” suspect was probably a man called Lee, whom he met and did drugs with, and who was staying at their home at the time.
He conceded that he had not told the police about his suspicion and had not confronted the man.
Schoeman said Lee continued living in their Valhalla flat with them and they went on drug sprees together, although Baby Wade was fighting for his life in hospital.
The State pointed out that according to Rudman’s evidence and that of a doctor, Lee had not been living with the couple at the time that the baby received the head injuries.

Asked why he had visited his son in hospital only twice, Schoeman said he could not stand seeing the baby attached to a ventilator.
He was also “doing a lot of drugs” at the time to try to cope with the situation.
“I admit I was a bad father,” Schoeman said.
“I did too much drugs, but I never hurt my son.”
Schoeman could not answer a lot of questions and claimed memory loss due to his drug addiction.

Asked by the State whether he had perhaps forgotten that he had punched the baby on the head, he was adamant that he had not done so.
“Drugs did take over my life, but it is not my defence that I killed my son because of drugs,” Schoeman said.
“I neglected my son, but I never killed him… I loved him with all my heart and I miss him.”
[...]

http://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/d...lect-1.1284853

[Jerri Blank]

Technical hitch in baby murder trial

TWO CHARGES of child abuse against the parents of a two-month-old baby who was allegedly beaten to death could be dropped if the presiding judges turns down an application by the State to amend the charges which were based on an old act.

This emerged yesterday in the Pretoria High Court trial of Marissa Rudman and the father of her baby, Nolan Schoeman.

It emerged that the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) mistakenly prosecuted the pair on two charges of child abuse under the previous Child Care Act. The State yesterday asked the judge to amend these two charges to reflect the crimes of child abuse, as set out in the new Children’s Act. The third charge, murder, is not affected by this oversight.

The previous act was repealed and the new act came into operation on April 1, 2010. However, according to prosecutor Cornelia Harmse, the DPP made an honest mistake when it drafted the indictment and prosecuted the pair under the old act.

The mistake only came to light near the end of the trial, when the judge discovered it and questioned counsel about it.

Harmse asked the court to simply amend the two child abuse charges, adding that the accused would not be prejudiced by this. According to Harmse the only difference between the old and the new acts was that the legislature had broadened the definition of child abuse.

For instance, now not only parents (as stated in the old act) but also other caregivers, including teachers, could be guilty of child abuse.

She conceded that in terms of the new act, an accused convicted of child abuse could face a 10- or 20-year jail sentence, whereas previously the sentence was five years’ imprisonment.

Harmse said: “One should not allow a technicality to infringe upon an injustice.”

Defence advocate Karin Alheit vehemently opposed this and said the court couldn’t allow the amendment. She accepted it was an honest mistake by the DPP, but said child abuse under the new act set out an entirely different crime, with much higher penalties.

Alheit said the definition of child abuse under the new act was much broader and included many more acts to reflect child abuse. According to her the court couldn’t simply substitute one crime for another.

But Judge Pretorius repeatedly said the accused at the start of the trial pleaded not guilty to child abuse and she wanted to know what had changed. “Show me the difference in child abuse in terms of the old act and the new act,” she asked.

Alheit was adamant that the crimes under the new act stretched much wider.

Schoeman had closed his case earlier after giving evidence and Rudman, who also testified in her defence, has now closed her case.

The trial resumed yesterday after a break of two weeks as Rudman wanted to find a paediatrician to testify on her behalf. This was to dispute evidence by a doctor called by the State that the injuries suffered by baby Wade were so severe that they were clearly visible for all to see.

According to both Rudman and Schoeman, they didn’t notice any injuries, apart from a few bruises on Wade’s face. This was in spite of the fact that the infant’s forearms were broken, he had 22 rib fractures and that he had suffered such severe brain injuries, that by the time he got to hospital, part of his brain was already dying. Schoeman earlier abandoned his plan to call an expert to testify in this regard, but Rudman was determined to find an expert.

Judge Pretorius was told yesterday that no expert could be found.

She will rule on May 28 whether the charges can be amended.

http://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/t...rial-1.1298111

[Jerri Blank]

Baby Wade's parents Marissa Rudman and Nolan Schoeman

Baby Wade's parents guilty of murder

PRETORIA - Nolan Schoeman and his former partner Marissa Rudman have been found guilty of the 2009 murder of baby Wade.

Judge Cynthia Pretorius delivered her judgment in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday.

She found that Schoeman punched baby Wade hard on the head and Rudman did nothing about it, despite being aware of the abuse.

Evidence showed that the two-month-old baby sustained serious trauma to his head and chest.

The infant also sustained 22 rib fractures during an earlier incident.

Pretorius said evidence against Schoeman and Rudman was overwhelming.

Rudman sobbed in court as the judge summarised the injuries baby Wade sustained shortly before his death.

The parents will be sentenced later in 2012.

http://ewn.co.za/en/2012/08/13/Baby-...s-found-guilty

[Silvahalo]

This case makes me so heart sick. Beating and torturing a newborn baby...nothing is more wicked.

useless and a pathetic. not a mother but a coward a failure.
“...Although she testified that she was scared Schoeman would commit suicide should she leave him... she did not care that he was slowly killing their baby."


Amongst the numerous injuries, head and broken bones that eventually killed baby Wade, his little feet....itty, bitty baby feet, also scathed. Monsters.

Rest in peace littlest baby Wade Schoeman.
May the angel kiss and hold you near.