Boy, 9, died from multiple injuries after beating at school
NINE-YEAR-OLD Koster, North West, schoolboy Odirile Mafora, who died in hospital a week after he was allegedly beaten, suffered multiple injuries, his family said.
Post-mortem results received by the family on Tuesday recorded the cause of death as multiple injuries, his grandmother Morwadi Phekola said.
Odirile was admitted to Koster Hospital on May 13 and died on May 16, three days before his tenth birthday. He was allegedly assaulted by a 17-year-old Grade 7 pupil at Kgalagatsane Primary School on May 10.
The teenager allegedly hit Odirile on the head and pushed him down the stairs at the double-storey school. As the younger boy rolled down, the teenager followed him and trampled on him on the ground below, it’s alleged.
The incident was not reported at school and Odirile only told his parents about the incident later.
North West police spokesperson Captain Sam Tselanyane said the teenager accused of Odirile’s murder appeared in the Koster Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
He was not asked to plead and his case was postponed to June 6. He will be kept in custody at a child and youth centre.
North West Education and Sport Development MEC Sello Lehari said he was shocked and saddened by the incident.
“As a department we have never expected such a thing to happen to our learners. Last week we lost two learners who perished in a fatal bus accident at Groot Marico, and others sustained minor injuries,” Lehari said.