Boy stabbed in school toilet to be laid to rest in Zim
Neighbours and friends shocked Department helps family with funeral
The 17-year-old pupil who allegedly stabbed and killed a seven-year-old boy is a quiet teen who has never been involved in fights before and liked playing pool at a local tavern.
Neighbours told Sunday World during a visit to the tiny village of Moretele in North West that the suspect, who appeared in court on Friday for the murder of grade 1 pupil Charlton Karuweruwe, was generally a well-behaved boy and that they were shocked by the incident.
They described the grade 11 pupil as an only child who was always helping his single unemployed mother at home. The neighbours said the mother was making a living from selling kota in a makeshift kiosk outside the family’s modest home.
Sunday World could not interview his mother as she was not home most of Friday.
According to the owner of the local tavern, who declined to be named, the boy and his friend frequented his joint mainly on Fridays and Saturdays.
“I definitely know him as one of the boys who come here to play snooker. I just don’t know his and his friend’s names. When they described him and his head wrap, I knew who they were talking about. He liked wearing a head wrap.
“They would buy a beer or two sometimes and drink while playing. They are not heavy drinkers, so they could just be experimenting as young men. I never thought of him as a violent boy,” he said.
The friend, who also did not want to be named, said he was shocked by the incident.
“My friend was a friendly and good person. We grew up together. I was shocked to learn that he had done something that terrible. Although we were close, he was rather a closed book. He kept to himself so I can’t really say whether or not he was in a romantic relationship with the sister of the boy they say he killed,” he said.
One of the suspect’s schoolmates described him as a quiet individual who was active in the school’s sport activities.
They attend Mmankala Technical High School in Makapanstad, which is a 30minute drive from their village.
“He was a reserved person who played shot put at school,” the schoolmate said.
A neighbour described the suspect as a respectful and quiet boy but said he seemed to be distant at times.
“The boy always carried a weapon with him,” said the neighbour, who could not describe the weapon.
The suspect will appear at the Temba magistrate’s court in Hammanskraal again on Tuesday for a bail hearing. The grade 1 pupil who was stabbed and killed in a school’s toilets on Monday will be buried in his mother’s native land of Zimbabwe on Saturday.
However, a memorial service will be held on Thursday in memory of Charlton Karuweruwe at Dikeledi Makapan Primary School where he was killed.
This, according to his family, was to afford his school mates, friends and residents of Makapanstad in the North West to pay their last respects to him.
Charlton’s death sent shock waves across the country after an older boy from Mmankala Technical High School allegedly slept in the primary school’s toilets before stabbing and killing him in the morning.
The suspect, who is 17, was arrested and will appear in court again on Tuesday.
North West education MEC Sello Lehari’s spokesperson Freddy Sepeng said the department was saddened by what had happened and the pupils as well as teachers at the school were receiving psychological counselling.
Sepeng said a task team had been formed to help the family with funeral arrangements.
“The school is receiving psy- chological counselling and a task team have been formed to assist the bereaved family.”
The boy’s death happened barely three months after the nation woke up to news of the brutal killing of a 24-year-old teacher in Zeerust, also in North West, allegedly by one of his 17-year-old pupils.
Residents who spoke to Sunday World on Friday said after the incident on Monday, they assaulted the suspect and he was admitted at a nearby clinic.
When the newspaper visited the Karuweruwe family, some
The department was saddened by what had happened and the learners as well as teachers at the school were receiving psychological counselling Freddy Sepeng
MEC SELLO LEHARI’S SPOKESPERSON
neighbours were there to comfort the family.
The boy’s aunt Nothisah Nhongo described him as a good boy who did not talk much except when with his peers.
“His mother is my sister and she is not in a good state. It is going to take a while before she can recover as she has lost her last-born child and we don’t know why this happened to him. We want to know why he [the suspect] did such a terrible thing to Charlton,” she said.
The aunt also cleared the air around reports that the suspect had a romantic relationship with the deceased’s sister.
“People are lying and making assumptions about the whole thing. We did not know the suspect nor have seen him before,” she said.