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An assault charge against a 15-year-old school girl at Krugersdorp High School in Joburg is being investigated.

The alleged killing of a 65-year-old Limpopo woman by her grandson is tearing the family apart.

The 14-year-old allegedly strangled the old woman with an electric cord on Thursday afternoon.

This took place at Thune Village in the Ga-Mamabolo area in Polokwane.

The 14-year-old is a Grade 6 pupil at the local primary school.

The boy appeared briefly in the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and was charged with murder.

“We arrested him on Saturday at 3am at his house,” said Mankweng police spokesman Constable Moses Molepo.

According to the boy’s mother, who cannot be named to protect the minor’s identity, she found out that her mother had died when she returned from a communal farm on Thursday.

“He came rushing to the communal farm and said my mother was refusing to open the door for him,” said the boy’s mother.

She said that when she arrived at home, the door at her mother’s room was locked, and she broke it down to gain access.

“Only after I discovered bruises on my mother’s neck (did I then ask) him what had happened,” said the mother.

Instead of responding, the teenager fled, she said.

He had not slept at home on Thursday night, but returned late on Friday.

The police arrested him on Saturday morning.

His mother told The Star on Tuesday that the dead woman had reprimanded the teenager earlier on the day she died because he had not washed the dishes.

The boy had allegedly insisted on watching TV.

According to the police, the boy became angry at the elderly woman’s remark that she expected him to be respectful, especially because he had been to an initiation school last year for circumcision.

His mother said her family had turned against her.

“Some in my family are blaming me for my mother’s death. They say I have instigated my son to kill my mother.”

The boy’s 39-year-old mentally disturbed uncle has threatened to kill him if he is released from custody.

“He wants to kill him,” said the boy’s mother.

She said she had asked the authorities not to bring the accused to Saturday’s burial because of the threat.

An 80-year-old woman in the village said she had been terrified by the killing.

“Our children have so many rights today, we can’t even reprimand them,” she said.

Teachers at the boy’s school had not informed his schoolmates about the incident.

“We don’t know how to tell them, but we suspect some of them are aware of it,” said a teacher.

The court case was postponed to February 17 for a bail application. The boy remains in custody at the Polokwane Welfare Complex. - The Star