The Western Cape Education Department says disciplinary action will be taken against a 14-year-old pupil at Bet-El School for Epileptics after he allegedly stabbed a fellow pupil in the neck with a pen, missing the main artery by mere millimetres.
On Monday, WCED spokesperson Millicent Merton confirmed that steps will be taken against the pupil after a meeting was held with their parents at the school in Kuils River.
“I can confirm the incident. The principal met with the parents of both learners,” Merton said.
“The school is taking disciplinary action in terms of their code of conduct.”
The victim’s mother, Janine Cedras, 38, of Wesbank, says her son, Earl, 14, who is in Year 1, had been playing soccer during the first interval last Wednesday when the ball accidentally hit the other boy in the face.
SCENE: Stabbing took place at Bet-El School. Photo: SUPPLIED
“My son said he told the boy he is sorry for what had happened,” Janine says.
“He told the boy to wash his face under a cold tap in the toilet because it was red under one of his eyes.
“But when Earl turned his back to him, the boy stabbed him in the neck with a pen.
“A boy who knows Earl wanted to take my son to the toilet, but he was bleeding too much and he was taken to the sister who has a clinic there at the school.
“The sister placed a bandage on the wound and wrote a letter for him to go to hospital.”
Janine says she took Earl to Delft Day Hospital where doctors told her he was “very lucky” because the pen just missed the main artery.
“The doctor said he could have died as the pen missed the main artery and the wound is one centimetre deep,” she says.
Janine says the doctor filled out a J88 form which she will now use to open a criminal case against the 14-year-old pupil.
“He is my only child and what would have happened if he had to die?” the traumatised mom asks.
“I will be taking this further. I have met with the principal and I am not happy how things are being dealt with because they say this is not an isolated incident.”