Pretoria - Parents of pupils at Lyttelton Manor High School in Centurion are fuming after a pupil was found in possession of a firearm at the school.
It was established that the gun belonged to the pupil’s father, a brigadier in the Crime Intelligence Unit.
According to police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale, the 17-year-old pupil apparently realised that his little brother had taken the gun from his father’s car and decided to disarm him before people could notice it.
“He then decided to take the gun and take it home before anyone could notice it. He was spotted by the security guards when he tried to take a bicycle which was not his to go home. Security guards approached him and he started to run,” she said.
While running, the pupil is said to have thrown the gun into a lapa. The security guards picked it up, caught the boy and called the police. The teenager was arrested for the alleged illegal possession of a firearm and was released into the custody of his mother. His father was arrested for negligence and was released on a warning.
Parents at the school are, however, not happy with the events that transpired on Tuesday. They said the pupil in question was known to be a troublemaker who allegedly got special treatment at the school.
A parent of one of the matric pupils, who preferred not to be named, said she was shocked that a pupil known as a troublemaker was in possession of a firearm.
“The same [pupil] has been in trouble at the school which makes me wonder why he is enjoying so much protection. We are now left with a situation where our children are scared to go to school and they are in the middle of their exams. We really need the Education Department to do something about this before things get worse and somebody gets killed,” she said.
She said she was seriously frightened when she heard about the incident from her friends.
Another parent, who also asked to remain anonymous, for fear of victimisation of his child, said this was not the first incident. The parent said earlier this year the teenager hit another pupil with a brick, but no action was taken against him.
“He was not suspended or anything. He has other cases against him at the school, but they are not taking any action against him. I can’t accept this because my children are at the school. The fact that they are not taking action means our children are in danger,” he said.
The parent said the school should either start improving its disciplinary measures and start punishing offenders or risk loosing pupils.
The Pretoria News tried to get hold of the school principal on Wednesday, but was told that she was in meetings and would get back to the paper afterwards, but failed to do so.
Pretoria News