A grade 9 Hudson Park High School pupil refuses to go back to school after he was beaten and left with a broken nose in an alleged bullying incident in a classroom on Monday last week.
Speaking to DispatchLIVE this week, the boy’s mother, who is a doctor, said her son had also suffered cyber bullying after the beating.
Among the remarks made on social media about the incident was a comment from the alleged bully.
A voice note from the alleged beater stated: “This is not over a seat. This boy could not shut the f*** up and that’s the problem.
“He was busy swearing at me and I f***** him up.”
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima denied there was any bullying, saying the incident involved two boys fighting over a seat.
The department said it was unaware of any cyber bulling in the aftermath of the fight.
Social media law expert Emma Sadleir said the alleged prepatrator should be expelled from the school.
“The age of criminal capacity in South Africa is 14. " That is the age at which you can be held responsible for your criminal acts.
“The law says at that age you should be able to appreciate the consequences of your actions, you should know the difference between right and wrong, and if you commit any crime over the age of 14, you are charged with that crime exactly like an adult would be.”
Schools should apply no tolerance to physical, and cyber bullying, Sadler said. “There should be no tolerance to physical bullying, and to cyber bullying. This is an assault , and a violation of the disciplinary code , and disciplinary action should immediately be taken, that child should be expelled from school.
“The school has a duty to protect the child under the schools act. And if they are not taking steps against bullies they are failing in that duty to protect the children.”
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said a 16-year-old boy had been formally charged with common assault on Tuesday afternoon.
Kinana said: “On May 24 at Hudson Park High School, grade 9 pupils were in class when a 15-year-old boy quarrelled with a 16-year-old boy over what is believed to be chairs.
“The 15-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted and suffered injuries.”
DispatchLIVE has seen a copy of the radiology report confirming the boy suffered a fractured nose.
The boy’s mother told DispatchLIVE that the altercation between the two teenagers had started after a new seating rearrangement made by their class teacher on Monday.
“My son got allocated a seat by the teacher that this other young man wanted, but my son refused [to give it up].
“The teacher had gone out of class for an urgent matter and that is when my son was beaten.”
She said: “The other boy walked up to my son, pulled and pushed him and smacked my son on his ear and punched him in the face.
“My son fell and as he got up this boy started punching him all over his face and headbutted him until his nose broke.
“My son managed to push this guy away from him and ran out of the class with a bleeding nose.”
She said a video was taken of the incident which was handed to the investigating officer.
“When I went to fetch him at school I saw that he was bleeding.
“His cheek was swollen.
“His injuries are quite serious and it looked like his nose was fractured, with his face and cheeks swollen from the incident.”
She said she immediately took her child for X-rays and the broken nose was confirmed.
The mother said her son no longer wanted to go to school after cyber bullying remarks made by some of his classmates, including the alleged aggressor, on a class WhatsApp group.
She said she had seen the messages when she looked at her child’s phone while he was being X-rayed.
“I was shocked. This was cyber bullying. There is also a voice note of this young man [allegedly] boasting to his class about how he beat my son up.
“I want the cyber bullying to stop.
“The physical abuse was enough.
“Children are sending emojis of a frog laughing until it drops dead.
“The school said they would send an incident report to the Department of Education, but that was only after I instructed an attorney to act.”
She said her son was still traumatised.
“He was writing a test this Monday but is still anxious, and we are not happy with what happened.
“One of the grade heads called me saying they will be changing the boys to different classrooms, but we now just want the law to take its course.”
Principal Dennis Vorster referred questions to the provincial education department.
Vorster said: “It is not something I can comment on because a case has been opened with the police.
“It is now a case between the parents and the children.”
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said: “We are aware of the incident, but it was just a fight between the two boys.
“No-one has been bullied.
“This started in their classroom when the boys were fighting over a desk and they continued to fight after school.”
He said the accused had been suspended for three days.
“The school dealt with this internally, but we call on our society to get involved when there are bullying incidents by our pupils,” Mtima said.
DispatchLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.