Pupil has surgery after assault
A MATRIC pupil has undergone reconstructive surgery to his jaw after he was allegedly assaulted by another pupil at his high school in Isipingo.
Antonio Moodley, 18, from Isipingo, is recovering in hospital following the alleged assault on March 9.
Cristabel Moodley, his sister, said the incident occurred when he was changing classrooms for his next lesson.
“He saw some of his friends near the tuck shop area and stopped to greet them. The pupil, who is in Grade 10, approached Antonio and started calling him names and gripped him in a headlock.
“At first, Antonio thought the pupil was playing around but then his grip around his neck tightened. Antonio tried to break free by using force to push the pupil off him.
“The pupil responded violently by throwing multiple punches at his face.
“Antonio fell to the ground and was bleeding. He managed to get up and ran to the nearest classroom where he saw a teacher. He asked the teacher for help and some other students called the security guards. At this point Antonio was shivering and was starting to lose consciousness.”
She said the teacher tried to calm Antonio down.
“I work for a hospital and while at work I received a call from another pupil saying he got stabbed. At the same time, the hospital received a call for an ambulance to be dispatched to my brother’s school. Realising the incident was related to him, I got into the ambulance with the paramedics.
“When I arrived at the school he was bleeding profusely from his mouth. We rushed him to the hospital. My brother suffered a broken and dislocated jaw on both the right and left side of his face. He has lost teeth as well and has undergone reconstructive surgery to his jaw.”
Cristabel said their mother died when her brother was 12 and she helped her father, Anthony Moodley, bring him up.
“Seeing my baby bleeding and so disoriented due to the trauma he experienced shattered my heart into a billion pieces. I was completely and utterly distraught. I felt like everything around me was collapsing and there wasn’t enough air for me to breathe.”
She said she was concerned that the incident had forced Antonio to miss his first term tests.
“He has plans to become a lawyer.
“He wants to follow in the footsteps of our mother. Antonio is a very timid, loving individual. He is family oriented, respectful and honest. He helps me take care of our father, who is also ill. He is not your ordinary teenager. He matured a lot after our mother’s passing.
“My concerns are that he is missing this exam and in the condition he is in, will he even be mentally ready for the next term? There are so many assessments that need to be completed, will he recover fast enough to accomplish them? He is a maths mentor in school because of how bright he is in maths.”
She said since the alleged assault, he had suffered post traumatic stress disorder: “Mentally he is shaken because he is in matric and is already under so much academic stress.”
Cristabel said she had met with the management at the school a day after the alleged assault.
“The school had only suspended the pupil who assaulted my brother for five days. We want the school to give us a full record of what happened on the day.
“The times, the events that occurred, the steps taken, the camera footage, the statements from the persons involved.”
She said the attack was reported to police.
Rashid Desai, chairperson of the school’s governing body, said: “The incident is getting the attention that is needed. All processes and protocols are being followed with the Department of Education.”
Sihle Mlotshwa, the spokesperson for the Department of Education in KZN, said they were investigating the matter.
“Violence like drug abuse is a problem in society that spills into our schools. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that these matters are dealt with. As a department, we take these matters in a very serious light.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala, a police provincial spokesperson, said: “A case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was opened at the Isipingo SAPS after a victim was assaulted at school on March 9. The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated.”