“Uncle‚ why are you hurting me?’’ a 12-year-old Goodwood boy — who was stabbed more than 30 times — pleaded with his attacker.

It was at that point‚ said his grandfather‚ that the man took the child’s phone and walked away.

 The harrowing incident took place earlier this week and since then the park where the boy and his friends were playing soccer has been empty.

 The child‚ who cannot be named‚ underwent his third operation on Thursday morning while Moheim Salie appeared in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court in connection with the stabbing.

 The 31-year-old seemed dazed in the dock. He swayed from side to side and shuffled his feet. He has applied for legal aid and is set to appear in court on Friday.

 Before court proceedings started‚ the boy’s grandfather visited him in hospital.

 “He said to me: ‘I saw him here‚ he was here!’…It turns out another man came in to visit his child but his hair was also shaved off just like his attacker‚’’ he said.

 His grandson has nine stab wounds on one hand‚ seven on the other and when the attacker stabbed him in the back of his neck the knife “pierced right through [to] the front of the neck’’.

 Doctors have told the family that their main concern is that the tendons in the child’s hands have to be reconnected.

 This is because the child tried to protect his face.

Meanwhile his 19-year-old brother is in a ‘’state’’ and needs counselling.

 The man said one of the friends found the older brother who then carried the boy about 100 metres into a complex where he tried to stop the bleeding.

“Every time [the 12-year-old] seemed to lose consciousness‚ his brother would say: ‘Stay with me‚ stay with me’.’’ said the man.

This continued until the ambulance arrived.

 “He was the hero‚ he was the hero. Whatever he did‚ knowingly or unknowingly he saved his brother’s life. Definitely‚” said the grandfather.

 Western Cape Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said suspect was caught in Paarl Street‚ Goodwood‚ on Tuesday.

 One of the boy’s friends visited him in hospital on Wednesday.

 “He cried so much he couldn’t speak….They didn’t want to allow him into the hospital because he is too small.

But he needed to come see his friend‚ so he could know that he is alive because he was convinced his friend was dead‚’’ said the grandfather.

 “All of the parents have come together and they had decided to take their kids for therapy…[The area] looks like a ghost town. There are no people moving in the roads‚ you don’t see a child anywhere.’’

 According to DA Member of Parliament Lorraine Botha 33 children have been killed in the Western Cape this year.