‘She will end up killing someone’, victims family plead for action against bully

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Pretoria - The family of Keleabetswe Maboa, the Modiri Secondary School pupil captured on video being assaulted by a fellow pupil, pleaded with the court to teach her a lesson before it was too late. The family of the 18-year-old was speaking outside Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court, where Onthatile Magagula, also 18, and a pupil at the same school in Ga-Rankuwa, made her first appearance. The matter was postponed to allow an alternative living address to be secured to ensure the victim’s safety. The court told Onthatile she would not be released until alternative accommodation had been found for the victim. This was deemed vital after the court heard that Onthatile had two previous assault charges against her. According to her record read out in court, her first charge, also of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, was in October 2018. She had hit another girl with a broomstick and a steel rake.

She was referred to the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders programme for life skills training.

Onthatile’s second charge of assault was in April last year. She had hit another girl and pulled her hair.

In that case, she was again sent for a diversion programme, which she successfully completed. As a result, the latest matter will still be regarded as a Schedule One (very serious) offence.

The State raised no objection to the release of the teenager, but requested that stringent measures be put in place to ensure a safe distance between the two, as they resided in the same area.

The grandfather of the victim, Michael Maboa, said he had not been able to go to work after seeing the video of his grandchild being assaulted.

Maboa said considering how intervention programmes had repeatedly failed to assist Onthatile, she was a threat to the community and would eventually end up killing someone.

“What hurts the most is that she has become used to getting away with it. All I ask is for the law to make her feel the same pain our children do with each assault,” said grandmother Sarah Maboa.

Onthatile was arrested on Thursday after a video of the assault surfaced on social media.

In the video, she is seen pouring a thick, white liquid over the other girl’s head and hitting her over the head with the empty carton before walking away.

Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has since suspended Onthatile and disbanded the school governing body.

The matter was postponed to Wednesday.

Pretoria News