The Osizweni police in Newcastle, Kwa-Zulu Natal are looking into an incident where an 11-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted by police officers at his home and later again at his school after his teacher’s car keys went missing.

The incident occurred in the Dry Cut area, near Osizweni, on October 27 when the boy was asked by his teacher at Enzimeni Primary to fetch her jacket from her vehicle.

The boy returned with the teacher’s jacket and claims he left the car keys on her desk. Later that day the teacher searched for her keys but could not find them.

A family friend told the Newcastle Advertiser that the teacher allegedly shouted at the boy, but he insisted he left the keys on her desk.

The following day, the child was afraid to go to school and stayed home with his mother and aunt. Later that day, two Osizweni police officers, accompanied by his teacher arrived at his house.

According to the family, the two police officers interrogated the child but could get no information to help them locate the car keys. They claim that the angered teacher instructed the police officers to hit the 11-year-old.

They allegedly plucked a branch off a tree and lashed him over his back.

The family claims that the scared boy, told police that he would go back to the school with them to point out where he had left the keys, to get them to stop beating him.

The officers put him into the back of the police van and drove him to the school with the mother and aunt following on foot.

When the boy’s mother and aunt arrived at the school, they say they could hear the child’s desperate cries coming from the restroom. They discovered him with his hands bound with handcuffs as the officers beat him on his head, torso and buttocks with their bare hands.

The child was taken to the nearest clinic for medical treatment of his injuries and was also given support for the emotional trauma he suffered.

“I would have paid for new keys, even if I had to give her [the teacher] my whole salary,” the father of the child told the newspaper.

Captain Nkosi of the Osizweni police station says that the case will be investigated internally and following the outcome, will be referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) for further investigation.