THE six-year-old girl who was allegedly denied treatment by a district surgeon after being raped because he was busy has turned into a "zombie".

The toddler girl, of Nondweni village in Nqutu, northern KwaZulu-Natal, was raped after her attacker lured her out of her home a fortnight ago. The girl allegedly spent some time without a bath while waiting to be examined.

After allegedly being turned away by the district surgeon, the child was seen by doctors at Vryheid Hospital last Wednesday.

Yesterday, her mother told Sowetan about the hardship and trauma her child was going through.

"She is a zombie. She just sits and does nothing. She is not the child she was. She has not gone back to school either," the mother said.

She said the child does not talk about what happened to her.

The suspected rapist is an uncle. "He was someone I trusted. How could he do this? I'm also depressed. This is a difficult thing to happen to a parent. I do not wish another person to be in the same situation," she sobbed.

She said her daughter was currently on medication and that she sometimes forgot how to administer the drugs and had to get help from a neighbour who worked at a local clinic. She said a health department official came to her home on Monday.

"We agreed with the official that I will take my child for counselling on Thursday," she said.

The mother said she hoped justice would prevail and that the suspect would remain in jail.