System failed teen who hanged self

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The system failed 14-year-old Leon Booysen, who hanged himself with his trousers in a police cell in 2006. Nobody cared about this troubled child – not the police nor his teachers at the Emmansdal industrial school in Heidelberg. Neither the police nor the teachers tried to establish whether there was an alternative, other than locking the teenager up in a cell. The constitution and the Correctional Services Act state that a teenager as young as Booysen, only had to be placed in police custody as a last resort. “In this respect the industrial school and the police morally failed the child,” magistrate DW de Bruin found during an inquest. The inquest to determine whether anyone could be held responsible for his death lasted a year. It was found that although the authorities were morally to blame for Booysen’s fate, nobody could be held criminally liable.

Leon was a troubled child who received medication for depression. When he was arrested in October 2006 – apparently for stealing food from the school’s kitchen and later hiding in the ceiling of an empty hostel on the premises – his teachers were only too happy to leave him in the hands of the police.

The police, realising he was only a teenager, locked him up in a cell by himself. But they never bothered to find out whether he had any family who could take responsibility for him. It appeared the teachers were only too happy to have him behind bars and out of their hands.

It was stated in the inquest judgment, delivered last week, that Leon’s death was preceded by a troubled childhood. He was placed in foster care with his aunt, Sylvia Minnie, and later in an orphanage. He was then transferred to the industrial school in Heidelberg.

During this time he received medication and treatment at Weskoppies for depression and epilepsy.

He was arrested on October 20, 2006, for breaking into an empty hostel. A teacher who noticed something amiss in the building, found the child hiding in the ceiling, behind the geyser.

He handed the child over to the police. They locked him up in a single cell at the police station. Leon was later found hanging from his neck by his trousers.

The court had to establish whether anyone could be criminally blamed for his suicide.

The magistrate said according to evidence, Leon was particularly vulnerable because of his tragic background.

He was in need of care and was eventually taken to the industrial school as he had behavioural problems. “He moved deeper and deeper into the system, which apparently afforded him less and less protection,” the magistrate said.

The Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, which assisted Leon’s family during the inquest, argued that there was a statutory and constitutional responsibility on his teachers to ensure his well-being during his arrest.

He was in their care at the time, but they washed their hands of him and refused to allow him to return to school. They accepted it was his fate to be locked up and they had let the child down, the court found.

While the police, as a last resort, may keep a child in custody, they have a duty to ensure there is no other alternative. This was not done.

Carina du Toit, a lawyer at the child law centre, said she understood that nobody could be held responsible in law for Leon’s death, but “the police and teachers got away with it. It just leaves one with the feeling that nobody cared”.

Leon’s aunt, Sylvia Minnie is extremely unhappy as to how the events unfolded. “They phoned me after his death. How come they could not phone me when he was arrested? He was not supposed to be in that cell. He was never a threat to anyone. Why did his teachers not want to help him?”

She described him as a humble boy, who often got bullied by the other children. “But I am not leaving it here. I am going to sue the education department and the police.” - Pretoria News