A male learner who was caught on video assaulting a female learner at a KwaZulu-Natal school has been taken into police custody.
The young man was shown kicking and hitting a schoolgirl in a blue and white school uniform in what appears to be a school corridor in a 20-second cell phone video that was shared widely on social media this week.
On Saturday morning, KZN education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi, citing police sources, said the young man had been handed over to police by his father and was currently in custody.
He is expected to appear in court soon.
On Friday the girl's father told News24 that police could speedily arrest the perpetrator as he lived in the same area as him.
"Whenever he sees me, he runs away. I wish police arrest him soon before I catch him first, because if I do, he might die at my hands and I'll end up in jail," said the girl's father.
He said the assault occurred in November 2016 at Siyathuthuka Secondary School in Inanda, when his daughter was about to write her final exams.
On the day of the assault he went to the home of the young man in the video.
"I only found him there. He told me that he beat her up because she and other girls had said he was skinny like he was HIV positive," he said.
He had since moved his daughter to another school in the area.
"She passed last year and she is still doing well at school, although sometimes she tells me that other learners keep tormenting her about the video," he said.
Earlier in the week the Department of Basic Education promised that the "strongest action possible" would be taken against the learner when he was brought to book. -- News24