Bullying is a problem that has been around for a long time and, unfortunately, it will be around for many years to come. Reports of physical assault, and psychological, verbal and cyber bullying are becoming increasingly common.
People are able to hide behind screen names and aliases online, and the things the youth are exposed to in movies, series, books, and social platforms make them believe that bullying is normal and ‘isn’t that serious’.
Most people believe bullying happens only in schools, but it is happening outside of school as well. In one such incident a 16-year-old resident of Florida became a victim.
We will be referring to the young man as John to abide by the Press Code, which requires publications to protect the identity of minors.
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At approximately 7.30pm on Sunday, 26 January, John’s grandmother was home alone. Her daughter had gone to the shops and her grandson was playing soccer in the park. It was a normal Sunday evening until an elderly man from the neighbourhood came rushing to her gate shouting, “Gogo, they are killing your grandson”.
She didn’t know what to feel other than fear and panic as the man described how her grandson was being assaulted by a group of nine boys armed with a baseball bat, belts and sticks.
John’s mother wasn’t home yet so the worried granny immediately called her son and the two of them went to the corner of 6th Street and 2nd Avenue where the fight was taking place. They were horrified at what they saw; community members struggled to break up the altercation and needed to call the AfriForum neighbourhood watch to intervene. By the time the patrollers got there, the boys were dispersing.
John was taken home and not much more was done about the situation until the following morning because his mother was under the impression that, ‘boys will be boys’. The following morning when her son woke up, her opinion changed; he couldn’t walk and his knee and ankle were extremely swollen. She then listened to the full story and took her injured son to hospital. It was found that John had a dislocated knee and bruised ankle. Later in the day, his mother took him to the Florida Police Station to open a case of assault.
All of teenage boys involved in the incident knew each other and often played soccer together in the nearby park. According to witnesses, the fight started after a series of allegations were made against John. Tension had, allegedly, been building between John and one of his attackers for a while, and mostly revolved around frustration and things being said about each other’s mothers. Verbal altercations had occurred between the group on the Friday and Saturday before the incident.
A mutual friend of the group of boys spoke about how the attackers called him after the assault to tell him what had happened. According to this boy, the fight broke out because the ringleader of the group was under the impression that John had stolen his cellphone. He later found out that he had left his phone at his father’s house.
Several witnesses gave their accounts of the events, with the primary details of all of the stories corroborating each other. Apparently, John and a few of his friends were walking home when they were confronted by the group of boys. He denied any allegations of having the ‘stolen’ cellphone and that was when the fight broke out.
According to the teenage boys, this wasn’t the first time these boys had ganged up on someone. Several young boys came forward with their own experiences of being beaten up by the group.
When John’s mother asked why they attacked her son, they responded saying that he was on their land. In a gang-like situation, these boys have allegedly claimed the park in Maraisburg as their territory.
These boys said they were scared of being beaten up by the ‘gang’ because even though they were friends, the boys who had been attacked were friends with them as well.
“We are grooming criminals,” said John’s grandmother. She said that the children in the area act like this from a very young age and most of them aren’t reprimanded for it. Her main concern was that it was nine boys against her grandson. “A one-on-one fight can easily be justified between teenage boys, but this was a group attack.”
John’s family came forward to speak about the incident in fear that the group might go too far one day, and end up accidentally killing someone.
Florida Police spokesperson, Sergeant Mpho More, confirmed that a case had been opened and said that the matter was being investigated by the Child Protection Unit.
