FOR six months, a 13-year-old special needs pupil harboured a dark secret.
The only inkling that something was horribly amiss was when her worried family witnessed her strange antics, including burning her hand with a hot hair straightener and, recently, crushing a light bulb with her fingers.
When her baffled mother questioned her about her odd behaviour, she did not answer. All she said, according to her mother, was that she did not want to go to school anymore.
They later learnt it was because a boy had threatened to stab her.
However, it was only recently, on further questioning by her family, that the Phoenix teen finally broke her silence.
It was news the family was totally unprepared for. That she had been raped. By a fellow pupil. During lunch break.
“She told us that he had raped her in a school block and ever since he had been threatening to stab her if she told anyone,” the 32-year-old mother told POST.
Months after the alleged rape in March, the girl is now undergoing counselling.
She claims the 15-year-old pupil cornered her in a block and when she tried to get away from him he started to hit her. He then allegedly pulled her pants down and then his.
The mother said she had noticed at the time that her usually “bubbly” daughter was becoming “distant”. She was also losing weight.
“She was always laughing and playing with her younger sister and cousins. But since March, she started becoming withdrawn from the family.
“She started to isolate herself; she always wanted to be alone.
“She never wanted to go out. At first I dismissed her behaviour as that of a typical teenager but then she started hurting herself.”
She once caught her daughter burning her hand with a hair straightener.
“She was just standing in her bedroom in a daze with the hot hair straightener against her hand. I was in shock and I started screaming at her to stop. When I questioned her as to what was happening she remained silent.”
Another incident took place in August.
“My daughter took a light bulb and burst it in her hands. The pieces cut her and she was bleeding,” she said. “Again, I questioned her about her bizarre behaviour and she did not answer me.”
With tears in her eyes, the mother said she was still in shock. “The next day I did not send her to school. We went to the Phoenix police station and opened a case.
“My daughter was examined by a doctor from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital who confirmed that her hymen was broken.
“I was speechless. I could only think about the trauma my daughter went through.”
The mother said she went to the school to inform them about what had happened.
“They just looked at me like it was my daughter’s fault. They showed no concern. My daughter refused to go back to the school and has been at home since August. I have been trying desperately to get her transferred because I cannot afford a private school.”
The mother said her daughter had attended mainstream school until the age of 10.
“When her teacher found that she was not catching on to what was being taught, an assessment was done on her and it was found that she was a slow learner. She was then transferred (to a special needs school). She has been doing well ever since.”
But, she added, the family was living a nightmare.
“The boy is still in school. He has not even been suspended. This is not fair that my child has to suffer this way.”
The principal of the school declined to comment, saying that the matter was still under investigation.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education said a full investigation would be launched.
Aroona Chetty, director of Phoenix Child Welfare, said she was aware of the matter and that her social workers were providing counselling for the pupil.
“It is a delicate situation given the mental state of the children. The incident needs to be thoroughly investigated and assessed before any further action can be taken,” she said.
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said a case of rape was being investigated but that no one had been arrested.