Durban - The teenager who was robbed of his cellphone and then pushed off a moving train, said he was attacked after he refused to hand over his R30 taxi fare.
Siyabonga Masoka, 14, sustained injuries to his face, neck, arm and knees after the attack near Warner Beach, on Friday.
He was transferred on Monday from uMlazi’s Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital to King Edward VIII Hospital, where he is set to have facial surgery on Friday.
Speaking to the Daily News on Monday, the teenager said the train had emptied out quickly at one of the stations. “There was no one left in the coach I was in.
“Then two guys got on the train and wanted my phone. I gave it to them and then they wanted my money,” he said.
Siyabonga said he had R30 in his shirt pocket. It was his taxi fare to get home to Mandawe, near Scottburgh, from the train station.
“I refused to give it to them. They pushed me towards the door. I later woke up under a bridge with paramedics around me and a bandage on my head,” he said.
He said his attackers did not get his money.
Siyabonga said he did not know if his robbers had pushed him towards the door to scare him or to intentionally push him off.
The Grade 10 pupil at the Sithokozile Secondary School said he hoped to become an electrical engineer. His unemployed parents, Mzobanzi and S’bongile, have had to use the train every day to get to the hospital to visit him.
Mzobanzi said he was deeply hurt by the incident.
“I can’t understand why they wanted to hurt him because he had already given them the cellphone.”
The family have still not reported the incident to police.
They say they live a distance from the Warner Beach police station where the matter needs to be reported. They hope to do so once their son makes a full recovery.
Provincial Metrorail spokesman, Zama Nomganga, said the family would have to approach Metrorail’s corporate office to lodge a complaint or if they intended to seek financial compensation for their son’s injuries.
He said there needed to be evidence, a police case number and statements to support their claims or for any financial compensation.
Daily News