A 17-year-old pupil has been suspended and will face disciplinary action this week after he allegedly beat a fellow pupil who was walking home after school.
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond, says the following day, the same Grade 9 boy was found with a knife on school premises.
She confirms the teen will appear before a disciplinary committee (DC) on both charges at the Cape Town school on Wednesday.
“The learner has been suspended and will face disciplinary action on 17 October,” says Hammond.
“The learner did have a weapon on him (at school) and has been charged as such by the school.”
The parents of the victim have asked for his identity and the name of the school to be withheld over safety concerns.
The alleged bullying incident happened on Wednesday afternoon as the 16-year-old boy was walking home.
His dad explains his son does not know the boy and only sees him at school.
The family has since opened a case of assault with police.
The victim’s dad says his son was about 100m away from school when the attacker came up next to him.
He says his son asked the boy what he wanted several times, but he didn’t reply.
Grabbed
“This boy then punched him in the face and he grabbed hold of both of his arms and hands, and he wiggled it loose and punched him with the right hand,” the angry father says.
“There was one girl who encouraged it and said: ‘Moer him’. He walked home with a blood-stained shirt.”
The dad says after learning the boy was found with a knife at school, they now want the matter dealt with urgently before anything bad happens to his son.
“I don’t send my child to school to be a gangster or fight, I am sending him for an education,” he says.
He says they have tried to take out a protection order against the alleged attacker, but was refused.
“We will not leave it like this, we asked for a protection order and were told this is only the first incident.”
Lieutenant Colonel André Traut confirms a case has been opened against the 17-year-old boy at Cape Town Central Police Station.
“The incident occurred after the school hours while he was walking home. The circumstances are being investigated,” he says.