Two students' playful scuffle turns tragic

A 15-year old boy from Mathakola in Tswapong region was arraigned before Palapye Magistrate on Monday this week following a Thursday scuffle that resulted in the death of his colleague.

The young boy who is doing form three at Mokgalo Junior Secondary School in Lecheng is alleged to have killed his colleague aged 17 with a pair of scissors. Station Commander at Palapye police station, Supt. Waboraro Ramaja said they received the report on Friday in the morning.

He said preliminary investigations shows that the two had a misunderstanding and ended up fighting and that the suspect stabbed the deceased with a scissor under the left ear. The boy was rushed to the clinic where he was certified dead. “Right now we are waiting for the post mortem results,” said Ramaja. 

According to sources inside Mokgalo JSS, the murder incident resulted from a small session of verbal jostling where the suspect may have caused death from an involuntary reaction after he was slapped. “The boys were joking and the suspect called the deceased with a name that he does not like from their village.

He (deceased) gave him a hot slap and the suspect responded by stabbing him with a pair of scissors in the neck. Although the sharp object went deep into the neck, there was no blood coming out, which means the bleeding may have been internal. Teachers were called and he was rushed to the clinic where he was certified dead,” said a source inside the school.

One teacher described the killing as an unfortunate incident because the suspect “is just a small boy who would not harm anyone under normal circumstances. Go raya gore o ne a tlodile pelo a utlwa clapa,” said the teacher.

The mood in the school this week has been sad as everyone is still in shock. “Police presence in the school is not helping the situation and the pupils interviewed by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officers come out of the questioning crying,” said the source.