Mungo Soggot
TWO of Johannesburg’s elite schools went head-to-head this week, not on the playing field but in the somewhat seedier surrounds of the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, to settle a case of assault, with racial overtones and a sporting twist.
The case stemmed from a fight at the Randburg Waterfront last year between two students, one from St Stithians in Randburg, the other from King EdwardVII High School (KES) in Houghton.
The fight left the St Stithians schoolboy with a broken jaw, and the KES boy badly bruised. The whole affair probably would have passed into school history, except that the St Stithians boy laid a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm against the KES boy who broke his jaw.
When others got involved in the mle, a second KES student was verbally assaulted with the words, “There are lots of blacks in the world, but you will always be a kaffir.” But it was not a factor in the court case.
Headmasters from both schools -Bruce McMurray of KES and David Wilde of St Stithians — say the two schools enjoy a good relationship and that the fight had nothing to do with inter-school rivalry.
But the court heard evidence that long- standing rugby and sporting rivalry between the two English-speaking schools could have triggered and fuelled the fight.
The boys involved cannot be named because they are under 18. The case was held in camera.
Sources involved in the case say the two students crossed swords at the Flames Restaurant at the Randburg Waterfront. Asked by the owner to fight it out off the premises, they arranged a showdown elsewhere on the Waterfront.
A crowd of about 30, representing both the schools, gathered to watch, and on occasion, join in as the two students punched, kicked, engaged in head locks and slammed one another’s faces into the concrete.
The verbal assault came as a black friend of the KES boy stepped in, prompting another St Stithians boy to utter the racist comment.
The two primary opponents were more subdued for their recent court appearance. Each was clad in his school blazer and tie, and was accompanied by his father
The focus of the case was to examine a parting kick the boy from KES dealt to his St Stithians opponent, which struck the boy in the face and broke his jaw.
Both sides agreed on the facts -which emerged in statements and under cross- examination – but disagreed about what the KES boy had intended with the final kick.
His defence was that he had not intentionally aimed for his opponent’s face, and could not have aimed because he was being attacked from behind and it was dark. The St Stithians boy argued the kick had been intentional.
In the end the magistrate ruled that the kick had hit its mark accidentally. He acquitted the boy of the assault charge.
And the case came to a sporting conclusion as boys from both sides – and their fathers -shook hands following the ruling.