Anger after ‘attack’ on teacher

A PRIMARY school teacher has been left “terribly traumatised” after allegedly being attacked by an enraged parent who, together with his friends, beat him with a wooden pick handle.

Since the alleged incident in the parking lot of M Padavatan School in Crossmoor on September 8, the Afrikaans teacher has been unable to return to class.

The angry mob had allegedly threatened to kill him for hitting a pupil on her head with a book.

The 52- year- old teacher’s attorney Arvin Singh said his client had not returned to school because he was concerned about his safety, and also nursing severe injuries to his head.

“My client was parking his car in the school’s parking lot when he was accosted by a gang of men. The group ran to my client’s car and started screaming vulgarities at him,” Singh told POST this week.

“The men pulled my client out of the car and beat him. They continuously asked him why he hit the pupil. He had no idea what they were talking about. When he told them this, the men got more angry.”

Singh said one of the men hit the teacher on the head several times with the wooden pick handle, while the others used sticks.

“They cracked his head open. Staff who saw the attack came to his rescue. He was taken to Chatsmed (Garden) Hospital.”

Singh said his client, who lives in Isipingo, had been a teacher for 30 years.

“My client never hit the child with the book. He had a good relationship with the pupil.

“This ordeal has left him terribly traumatised.”

After the attack, other teachers refused to work for three days and the school had to be shut. It reopened on Thursday.

Parents who spoke on condition of anonymity described the attack as unwarranted.

“If the teacher hit your child why not go straight to the principal? This father acted like a thug instead of addressing the issue correctly. What example is he setting for his child?” asked a mother of two.

Another parent, a father of one, said he was angry that teaching had stopped at the school two days before examinations started.

“This was not fair to the other pupils. Our children lost out on valuable work because of the teacher and this parent.”

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was being investigated by Chatsworth police. No arrests had been made by the time of publication.

Neither the school principal nor its governing body wanted to comment.