A year after the horror death of Shahiel Sewpujan, the tears of his fellow pupils at Clayhaven Primary School are still flowing
The 9-year-old’s body was found in a manhole three days after he was reported missing by members of his Phoenix community and teachers at his school.
Two relatives – Kavitha Naicker and her mother, Rajwanthie Haripersadh, were arrested and charged with murder days after his body was found on February 8.
A special assembly was held at the school last Friday in remembrance of Shahiel.
Some of his classmates, who are now in Grade 5, could not hold back tears as they sang Amazing Grace.
“The way in which Shahiel was killed disturbed many people. Some of the teachers had been searching for him and were part of the group who found him. They had to go through a lot of counselling to recover,” said principal Desiree Chetty.
She said the school authorities had become more vigilant in terms of their pupils.
A social worker from Phoenix Child Welfare had been disgnated to help and to pick up on concerns.
“Other problems of neglect and abuse have arisen through counselling sessions with children, so we have identified many other cases,” Chetty said.
The director of Phoenix Child Welfare, Aroona Chetty, said children from the school had come a long way after having been counselled. “There is a lot they have had to deal with over the year because of this loss of their friend, but they have learnt to deal with it through counselling.”
She said in identifying what children had been going through, a centre had been opened for children to do their homework.
“Some children go home to nothing or no one; they have to feed themselves and do their homework alone.
“So we opened the Mustard Tree where they can come and do homework from 2pm-4pm, and we provide snacks,” Chetty said.