The perpetrator of arguably the most barbaric act of schoolboy violence in South African history was neither bullied nor did he snap.
Instead, Morne Harmse, the matric pupil at the Nic Diederichs Technical High School in Krugersdorp, planned Monday's attack three days before and told his friends exactly what he intended.
Just before school broke up last Friday, he sat with five of his friends and asked them how they would perpetrate a Colombine-type massacre on the schoolgrounds.
As they sat there, some of the boys joked how they would use guns.
But Harmse explained in great detail how he would wear the mask he had made in honour of metal band Slipknot's frontman Corey Taylor, and lay into the schoolchildren with one of the many Japanese swords he had in his collection.
It was supposed to be a joke, the other five have apparently told investigators this week.
Just before the friends sat together, Harmse had been to an abortive matric career guidance session where his answers frightened teachers.
He wasn't prepared for his up-coming final school examinations nor optimistic about his future.
He said he did not think his parents had much faith in him anyway and that it would be better if he was in jail.
School principal Mac Redelinghuys said this week that teachers had intended to call him back in on Monday to address the matter.
Instead, after telling his friends that Friday afternoon that he would rather be a "bum in jail rather than a bum outside", he arrived at school on Monday morning.
Inside the schoolgrounds, he donned a gruesome home-made mask, daubed his face with black paint and drew one of three "Ninja" swords from his backpack - exactly as he had said he would do that Friday afternoon.
"Do you want to see something cool?" he asked other pupils
Within minutes, 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius lay dying on the schoolgrounds from a fatal slash to the throat. Another pupil, Stefan Bouwer was wounded, as were two of the school gardeners, Sam Manamela and Joseph Kodisang, as the other pupils fled from him.
Manamela was struck on the left cheek while the sword sliced open the skin of Kodisang's left ear down to his cheek. who had tried to stop his spree.
Pretorius was buried on Friday, the innocent victim who died only because he was too close to Harmse when he started flaying about with his 60cm long sword.
At the end of his rampage, Harmse apparently dug his sword into the ground, sat on a low wall and smiled. When a friend ran up to him, he said: "I killed three of them, didn't I?"
Harmse was arrested along with Max Brechlin, a friend who reached into Harmse's bag, put on a mask and drew a sword in a bid to reason with him before Harmse struck his first victim.
When he saw that Harmse was beyond reason, he took off the mask.
On Wednesday, the two appeared in the Krugersdorp magistrate's court. Prosecutors withdrew charges against Brechlin, but Harmse was charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Brechlin has turned State witness and by Friday investigators had taken statements from the four other boys as well as Harmse's younger brother Corne and his parents Liza and Machiel.
Neither the school, nor Harmse's parents were apparently ever aware of any problems with the 18-year-old.
Redelinghuys said: "He has never given any trouble since he started grade eight in the school. We were just worried about him not having a vision; we were not aware of the underlying problem."
In an open letter to an Afrikaans newspaper later in the week, Harmse's mother claimed the family had been "solid".
But she also claimed her son had been bullied because he was a small child. "Where we could, we stood up for him and spoke to the bullies involved, but also accepted it as part of life.
"He went to school intending to give "them" - which was never directed at a specific person - a fright and to hurt them, but he never intended to kill anyone. He wanted to release built-up frustration and his feelings of powerlessness. He wanted to be someone.
"Morne was a small baby at birth, and through life we knew him as someone quiet who knew his place," his mother wrote.
"We suspect a combination of stress, bad self-esteem, wrong influences and an absolute feeling of powerlessness led our child to this terrible deed."
But sources have told Pretoria News Weekend the teen was not bullied at school.
He was a quiet, yet confident youngster who was very popular among those in his group.
He often talked about doing violent things but had never acted on his words - until now.
Police are believed to have found satanic paraphernalia in his room, which, his mother said, she never entered, including a Ouija board and a handwritten "book of spells".
A satanic altar was also found in the veld near the Harmse home. Detectives apparently found candles, a pentagram and an assortment of liquids at the spot as well as the remains of a number of small animals buried in the ground.
The 18-year-old is due to return to court on Wednesday, but before then he will undergo a psychological examination at Sterkfontein mental hospital.