A MARIANNHILL family is desperately seeking answers after their 17-year-old son was stabbed in the stomach and neck during a bullying incident at Westridge High School, leaving him paralysed from the neck down.
Two months after the attack, Joshua Petersen's parents have claimed that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has yet to respond or offer support, despite the life-altering consequences their son now faces.
On January 22, Joshua Petersen, was the victim of an alleged bullying incident at school.
To date there has been no justice for Joshua and he continues to face challenges with his health, including that will never walk again.
His father, Trevor Petersen, 50, a machine operator, said the incident had left their family traumatised.
He said it was worrying that the attack on him took place at school.
“A pupil had approached Joshua in the school canteen and accused him of hurting him. Joshua asked this pupil how? Even though Joshua knew he didn’t do anything, he still apologised and walked away from this pupil.
“Shortly after that, the same pupil returned and this time he had a knife concealed in his school pants. The pupil continued to say that Joshua had hurt him. He then pulled the knife and stabbed Joshua on the side of his stomach,” said Petersen.
He said Joshua pushed the pupil away and tried to stop him from hurting him further.
“A teacher and pupil tried to intervene. The aggressive pupil pushed the teacher away and she fell. Joshua tried to help the teacher,” he said.
He said during this time Joshua was stabbed in the neck by the same pupil.
“Joshua fell on his face and lost consciousness. The teachers called a private ambulance and they rushed him to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
“When I saw my son in that state, lying in the hospital bed, I was heartbroken. How could someone do that to my boy?” asked Petersen.
He said the doctors then told them that Joshua would never walk again.
“He is paralysed and he cannot use his arms and legs. He is paralysed from his neck to his feet. My son is a quadriplegic. One day he was happy and healthy and the next his life and future was taken away from him just because someone wanted to bully him,” said Petersen.
He said his son had always been a good pupil with good grades.
“My son never gets into fights. I raised him never to pick his hand up to anyone. I believed him when he said he walked away when the pupil first confronted him.
“That pupil’s parents have felt no remorse nor have they apologised to us for what had happened. Their son stabbed Joshua, not once but twice. Sadly, that mistake will haunt my son for the rest of his life," said Petersen.
He said his son was not coping well since the incident.
“He does not eat or sleep well. He lies in his hospital bed thinking about the life he has lost. No one is helping us nor is anyone taking responsibility for what happened,” he said.
He added that Joshua had been in hospital since the incident and was receiving physiotherapy.
He said that neither the school nor the DoE had contacted him about the incident or his son’s condition.
“I’m hurt, upset, angry. I want justice for my son. I want accountability from the Department of Education. They must tell me what I must do with my son.
“Why have they not been here from the beginning? They have still not shown up. They were quick to respond to the Centenary Secondary bullying incident but not ours,” claimed Petersen.
“It seems like we will never get justice. We are also stuck with a sick and unreliable police, educational and justice system,” he said.
He said only family, religious and private organisations had been helping them.
Joshua’s doctor, Dr Ramendhra Naidoo, confirmed that he would never walk again.
“Joshua Peterson has been quadriplegic ever since the stabbing incident. He has lost complete use of his limbs. He is a brain and a face for which the DoE has refused to recognise. We implore the minister of education to look into this matter at her earliest convenience.
“A child was brutally stabbed in an environment which should have protected him. As his treating doctor, supportive care and prayer is all we can offer him and his family during their time of need,” said Naidoo.
Provincial spokesperson of KwaZulu-Natal SAPS, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, said Mayville police had arrested a 17-year-old suspect for attempted murder .
The suspect appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on March 6.