The mother of a nine-year-old girl told of the agony her daughter went through for three months before she could reveal she was sexually abused allegedly by a school patroller.

The mother said the incident left her child with an infection and unable to hold urine. She was testifying in the South Gauteng High Court sitting in Palmridge Magistrate's Court in Ekurhuleni on Tuesday where Johannes Molefe is on trial for sexually abusing young girls at AB Xuma Primary School in Soweto.

The mother said she realised in June last year that her daughter had an irritation on her vagina and she took her to a local clinic.

“The nurses asked if anything happened to her and she said no, the nurse said maybe it was caused by the food we eat. Only to find out later that she confessed to teachers that "mkhulu" [Molefe] inserted a finger in her vagina,” she said.

The mother said she continued to give her child anti-biotic treatment she received from the clinic for three months.

“She couldn’t hold urine, she would pass urine every two minutes. She was always sitting on the potty. Even when we were sitting, she would go and take the potty and sit on it.”

The mother said she received a call from the school principal on September 27 informing her that her daughter told other children that she had an infection. She said she confronted the child (when she returned from school) who later told her grandmother that Molefe inserted his finger in her vagina. The mother said the call came a day before her daughter was due to complete her treatment.

“I then took her back to the clinic and told the nurse that [my daughter’s] condition had nothing to do with the food we eat or the fact that she drinks too much soft drinks. I told them what happened to her,” said the mother.

With the new details in front of them, the nurses referred the child to the Teddy Bear clinic for counselling. The child's condition has since slightly improved.

“It’s like this thing is in her head, [at times] she just wants to sit on the potty. It’s like she wants to release something inside her, I don’t know what causes it."