Ex-pupil receives R23.5m after suffering injuries on playground
PRETORIA: In one of the biggest damages claim payouts to date in South Africa, the Gauteng MEC for Education was ordered by the Pretoria High Court to pay a total of R23.5 million in damages to the son of a judge who suffered various injuries, including to the brain, when he, 10 years ago, fractured his skull during a school playground game.
KwaZulu-Natal Judge Piet Koen, who was called in to adjudicate over how much damages should be paid to Christian Rabie, awarded the 23-year-old R20.2m for loss of income and earning capacity. He awarded R800 000 in general damages, R787 386 towards future medical expenses and R1.6m as a 7.5 percent add-on for the costs of protecting the award. The judge ordered that a trust had to be established to administer the money.
Christian, the son of Pretoria High Court Judge Pierre Rabie, was 13 when he was hurt in a game where the older boys flipped the younger ones into the air in a cricket net. Christian was at the time a Grade 8 pupil at the Hoërskool Waterkloof.
The court earlier ruled that the education department was liable for the damages, as the school had a duty to supervise pupils to ensure they did not engage in dangerous activities.
The accident occurred on the southern side of the rugby fields, away from the main buildings, where there were no teachers on duty. But the court found that the teachers had to do ground duty during breaks and they should have noticed a gathering of children in the area.
The school, in denying liability, argued that the area was off-limits to the children. But the court found that the teachers should have known that children could enter areas that were off-limits. The department in 2008 appealed the ruling that it was held 100 percent liable for Christian’s dam- ages. It was at the time argued that he and the other children should have known the game was dangerous and against the school rules and that they could get injured. It was said that they, and not the department, were negligent.
But the court five years ago turned down the appeal and said Christian was 13 and lacked the maturity to realise that he could be injured. “All he saw was his classmates having fun,” one of a full bench of three judges said.
Christian lost consciousness after the fall and he was taken to the Pretoria East Hospital. His skull was fractured and he was in the intensive care unit for six weeks and on a ventilator for 45 days.
He was unable to attend school for the rest of 2003 but returned to Grade 7 the following year based on his good marks. The court heard that he was an above average student and up to the accident did very well at school.
Christian is a law student at Unisa, but several experts, including psychologists and neurosurgeons, said in their opinion he had lost some of his intellectual abilities due to his injuries.
The education department not only has to pay the R23.5m damages, but also costs and the fees of 17 experts.