POLICE on Monday dismissed reports that the stabbing incident at a Witbank school where a coloured pupil allegedly injured a white colleague was racially motivated, African Eye News Service reports.
Shaun Craig McDonald, 18, a Grade 11 pupil at Hoerskool Reynopark in Witbank allegedly stabbed Hendrik Trichardt during a schoolyard brawl on Tuesday afternoon.
Witbank police spokesman Inspector Eddie Hall said on Monday the incident was not racially motivated and appeared to be the result of an argument about a cellphone.
Hall said McDonald had allegedly accepted R200 from Trichardt last October after promising to get him a cellphone from an older friend.
“When seven months passed and Trichardt still hadn’t got his cellphone or his money, he allegedly rounded up his younger brother and two friends and confronted McDonald at about 1pm on Tuesday,” said Swart.
Hall said an argument started between the five boys, and quickly deteriorated into a shoving and pushing melee.
“McDonald allegedly produced a knife and stabbed Trichardt in the shoulder,” Swart added.
The other boys apparently retaliated by using a hockey stick to beat McDonald off.
“Statements from the boys involved in the matter don’t indicate any sign that the stabbing was racially motivated,” said Hall.
The knife was confiscated and McDonald was arrested and appeared in the Witbank Magistrate Court on Thursday.
He was not asked to plead on an attempted murder charge and was released to the custody of his parents. The case was postponed to June 15 for further police investigation.
Hall said Trichardt and a 17-year-old youth also appeared in court on Friday on a charge of assault on along with McDonald.
They were not asked to plead and both were released to the custody of their parents, and the case postponed to June 15.
School principal Wolla Ras confirmed on Friday that an internal probe has been instituted into the incident.
Ras declined to comment and referred further questions to the chairman of the school governing body, Ferdi Labuschagne.
Labuschagne said a fact finding commission had started investigating the matter on Monday. He said a final report would be sent to the education department on June 8.
Education MEC Craig Padayachee said he was waiting for a report about the incident before commenting, but condemned the any violence at schools.
Padayachee said the law would run its course, and said the department would also investigate the case.
— African Eye News Service, May 29, 2000.