assault

The assault victim, also aged 15, had to get stitches after being hit in the head with a belt buckle. PHOTO: Rea Thusa/We Help

15-year-old arrested for assault GBH during afterschool fight

The boy is arrested after he and a large group of friends attacked and assaulted another 15-year-old boy outside Prosperitus High School.

assault

The assault victim, also aged 15, had to get stitches after being hit in the head with a belt buckle. PHOTO: Rea Thusa/We Help

A 15-year-old boy faces charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm for beating another boy outside a high school in Eersterust.

His alleged victim, also 15, suffered a serious cut to the head. He required stitches after being slashed with a belt buckle during an afterschool fight.

GROUP OF BOYS ASSAULT TEEN OUTSIDE SCHOOL

According to non-profit organisation Rea Thusa/We Help, the assaulted boy was attacked by eight high school boys. This happened last Tuesday outside Prosperitus High School.

The boy, from Eersterust Secondary School went to Prosperitus to wait for his friend outside. But a group of boys started taunting him, said Rea Thusa/We Help’s Virginia Keppler.

“One boy slapped him in the face and the two started fighting. When the others saw their friend was losing the fight, they all started attacking [the victim],” she said.

The boy was allegedly kicked, punched, beaten with a belt buckle and whipped with thorned branches.

“If a tuk-tuk driver did not stop, grab the boy from their clutches and drive off with him, he was surely going to be either dead or suffer life-threatening injuries.”

Virginia Keppler

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MOTHER CLAIMS POLICE TOLD HER TO INVESTIGATE HER OWN SON’S ASSAULT

The boy’s mother went to Eersterust Police Station to open a case against her son’s attackers. He was also taken to a district surgeon where he received stitches for the gash on his head.

But according to the mother, Eveline Eppit, the investigating officer told her to go do her own investigations on the matter.

“He told her to go to the school and find out the identities of the boys and their home addresses. According to Eveline, the investigating officer said he could not go to the school himself,” Keppler said.

When the mother went to the Prosperitus school, she apparently found the same group of boys in the principal’s office. They were apparently called in for the assault of her son.

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A 15-year-old boy from Prosperitus High School is facing charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. PHOTO: Twitter/@ElijahMhlanga

“I still cannot believe that the police asked me to do their job for them. What are they there for?”.

Eveline Eppit

According to Keppler, eight of the boys have been suspended from the school. More suspensions might follow, she said.

POLICE INVESTIGATIONS HOWEVER LEAD TO AN ARREST

It seems the police eventually investigated the matter as they arrested a teenage boy. This boy is the one who allegedly assaulted the victim with a belt buckle.

Eersterust police spokesperson Sam Shibambo says according to the docket, more than 10 boys were involved in the attack.

“A suspect, who is also 15-years-old, will appear in court according to the child justice processes of mediation. After his arrest, he was released under the care of his parents. He faces charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm since he used an instrument – the belt buckle,” Shibambo said.