Pretoria - The 14-year-old Mbilwi Secondary School pupil arrested for assaulting fellow pupil Lufuno Mavhunga was set to return to court on Tuesday for a bail application.
The video of the April 12 assault at the teenagers’ Limpopo school went viral on social media and Lufuno later died by suicide at her parents’ home.
The arrested girl appeared before a presiding officer last week for a preliminary inquiry, Limpopo spokeswoman for the National Prosecuting Authority Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The preliminary inquiry was concluded last week. She will appear today (Tuesday) in the Thohoyandou Children’s Court,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.
“The child in conflict with the law assaulted another learner who later committed suicide. This matter will be dealt with according to the Child Justice Act prescripts.”
Lufuno was buried in Limpopo on Saturday. At an emotional memorial service on Friday, her brother Kenneth recounted the six-hour trip he undertook from Pretoria to Limpopo after the teenager took her life after videos showing how she was bullied and assaulted were widely circulated online.
“We drove for six hours and I can tell you that in those six hours, we hardly spoke for 30 minutes. We were so quiet in the car. We did not know what to talk to each other (about). We understand she is gone and now she is no more,” he told the memorial service.
“Lufuno was the last daughter of our family. She was loved by everyone in our family, but more than anything, Lufuno was a human being. Lufuno was created in the image of God, like all of us. When we saw Lufuno, we should have seen God. We should have seen the image of God.”
One of the viral videos shows Lufuno having a heated conversation with another student before they are interrupted by a third who slaps her several times.
Lufuno does not fight back, but instead tries to reason with her attacker. In the background, other students can be heard cheering on the perpetrator.
A second video of the same incident shows the two girls being separated by a male student. Lufuno’s attacker lands a few more slaps and pulls her hair before they are separated.
IOL