An incident of gay-bullying has been reported at Pinetown Boys’ High near Durban after a student was allegedly beaten up and dangled by his ankles from a second story building.
“My son is gay. They (the bullies) came to know this and he was victimised. In one incident they held him by his ankles over a second-floor balcony. He went through a very bad phase because of this and tried to commit suicide,” his mother, who has chosen to remain anonymous, told The Mercury newspaper.
“He ended up in rehabilitation and his grandfather decided to pull him out of the school,” she said.
Footage taken of the incident on a cell phone camera was reportedly shown to school officials, who apparently told his mother that “my son was different and that I should take him to church.”
This incident follows a number of alleged incidents of bullying at the school that have been reported.
The school has been accused of ignoring the alleged abuse. Pinetown Boys’ High principal Dave Aitken has not replied to the accusations, saying only that a meeting would be organised to present the school’s case to the media.
