Pupil charged with assaulting Lufuno Mavhunga out on bail
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Pretoria – The 14-year-old Mbilwi Secondary School learner arrested for allegedly assaulting fellow learner Lufuno Mavhunga, who later committed suicide, was on Thursday released on bail.
“Bail has been fixed at R1 500, with conditions not to interfere with witnesses. The other condition is that the minor in conflict with the law must not travel outside Limpopo without knowledge of the investigating officer,” said Limpopo spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi.
She said the case has been postponed to May 27 for further investigation by the SAPS. Malabi-Dzhangi added that the learner has been charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Cyberbullying can also lead to delinquency, school violence and suicidal thoughts.
Citing examples of cases of cyberbullying, Ngobeni mentioned the recent incident involving Limpopo pupil Lufuno Mavhunga who committed suicide after she was filmed being bullied and assaulted by another schoolgirl. Other pupils watched on and laughed as Mavhunga was repeatedly slapped outside the premises of the Mbilwi Secondary School.
A high school pupil in Gqeberha also became a victim of bullying last week, when her peer posted a humiliating picture of her. The pupil attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on pills.
According to Ngobeni, bullies do not stop intimidating and humiliating others, because they do not see the harm associated with it.
A recent anti-bullying campaign highlighted that ‘those who film, post or distribute videos are also participants’ 25 April 2021 - 19:59
Academics, educational psychologists and the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) have suggested that the role of bystanders during bullying incidents should be urgently addressed.
Scenes of pupils cheering perpetrators during bullying incidents, as was the case at Mbilwi Secondary School recently, are common.
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First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
A month before young Lufuno Mavhunga tragically took her own life after being publicly bullied and shamed, allegedly by another learner at her school, Mbilwi Secondary School in Limpopo, another young boy in the Western Cape attempted to take his own life for the same reason.
The grade five learner from a small farm school in Paarl, Joostenberg Primary, had downed six tablets, intending to take the entire container of painkillers, when he was discovered by a family member on Saturday 14 March.
He was given milk to neutralise the minor overdose, the distraught mother said, speaking to
Lufuno Mavhunga case: State asks for accused to be denied bail for own safety According to the State, there have been incidents where the teenager had to be rescued from her parents custody before being taken to a youth centre. A screengrab of Lufuno Mavhunga just before she is slapped multiple times by another pupil in a bullying incident.
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JOHANNESBURG – The State in the case of a 14-year-old Limpopo pupil who was arrested for assaulting Lufuno Mavhunga has told the Thohoyandou Magistrates Court that the teenager should not be granted bail as she was not safe in the custody of her parents.