Schoolboy sentenced for killing fellow pupil
A 16-year-old schoolboy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death was sentenced to six years in prison, suspended for five years, by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The youth may not be named as he is a minor.
He was ordered not to commit a similar crime within five years or he would be arrested.
The pupil will be under correctional supervision for three years and he is required to do community service for 576 hours.
He is also required to report to the Correctional Services Department if he wants to leave town.
The teenager stabbed fellow pupil Nkosana Mbele (19) on October 9 2006.
Mbele was said to have been running a loan-shark scheme at the school, and he had argued over borrowed money with the accused at the time.
Outside the court, Mbele’s family expressed dissatisfaction with the suspended sentence.
“I felt like standing up when the magistrate was delivering his sentence and tell him it was not right, why was he not sending him to jail,” said the boy’s sister, Portia Zulu (17).
His mother, Maria Mbele (42), said her family was not at all happy with the sentence.
“I lost a child. I will never have him back. They still have their son. I don’t think it’s fair at all for him to be given a suspended sentence.” - Sapa
