A Durban school that sent a 15-year-old pupil home early has been blamed after she was raped on the way home.
|||Durban - A Durban school which sent a 15-year-old pupil home early for a petty reason has been blamed after she was raped on the way home.
The teen’s mother has accused the school of negligence because it could have prevented the rape, and said the Department of Education had ignored her emails.
The Newlands East mother, who cannot be identified to protect the girl’s identity, said her daughter, who is in Grade 9, had been told to go home because she did not have a note explaining why she was absent the previous day.
The girl, who normally gets a lift to and from school, left before 9am on Tuesday last week and while walking home was dragged into a bush.
“When she tried to scream and pull away the man threatened her and yelled at her to shut up. She was raped three times until she managed to free herself and escape,” she said.
The mother told the Daily News a policeman knocked on her door that morning and said her daughter was in trouble. She was taken to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Phoenix where it was confirmed she had been raped.
“We then went to the school to demand answers. The school principal was apologetic about the rape incident. On our way home, my daughter saw the suspect at a block of flats chatting to his friends. The moment we stopped the car the suspect ran away. My son-in-law gave chase, but he escaped,” she said.
She said the man was a known drug dealer and that his neighbours were fed up with his behaviour.
Later the police told her the man had handed himself over.
She said that according to the school’s code of conduct a teacher was supposed to call her to make arrangements to fetch her daughter from school. Had that been done, the ordeal would have been prevented.
Her daughter-in-law added: “The school’s policy states that you cannot send a child home without the consent of the parent, especially when her transport had already left. Apologies from the principal do not change anything,” she said furiously.
The victim’s mother criticised the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education for not responding to emails she had sent it and for failing to visit the family.
She demanded the department should pay her daughter’s school fees and facilitate her removal to a special school, because her daughter was frightened to go back to Newlands and feared meeting her rapist.
“Before my daughter talks she just cries. It is so painful; we thought it would be better to hide her away for safety. She seriously needs counselling,” said the mother of five.
The teen missed school last week on Monday because she had accompanied her mother to Addington Hospital for her medication.
Approached for comment by the Daily News on Wednesday, the school principal referred enquiries to the department. He said he would discuss the matter with the teacher involved in sending the teen home and planned to meet the circuit manager on Wednesday.
The KZN chairman of the School Governing Bodies Association, Reginald Chiliza, said it was disgraceful that a pupil had been sent home during school hours.
“We strongly condemn this behaviour. It was total disregard of the school’s policy. I want a full report of what has happened and the teacher involved must be dealt with, to set an example,” he said.
Department of Education spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi, said they had not been informed of the incident.
“We regret what has happened to the pupil. But we will be launching an investigation into this case.”
SAPS spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, confirmed a 31-year-old suspect had been arrested and had appeared at the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court last week.
The suspect was remanded in custody for further investigation and was due back in court today.
nkululeko.nene@inl.co.za
Daily News