Child loses finger in apparent prank gone wrong at school

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO. The child's distraught father is planning to sue the department of education.

Motion blur stretcher gurney patient hospital emergency | Picture: iStock

The distraught father of a 12-year-old boy from Laerskool Booysens is at a complete loss after discovering his child in hospital after his finger was sheared off in a school door in what appears to be a prank gone wrong.

In a video shared with The Citizen, children can be seen pushing and keeping a door closed as children try to exit a classroom for break time when the child’s finger gets caught in the door and breaks apart the tip of finger. Upon releasing the door the boy can be seen in agonising pain, holding his finger.

Other learners look on in shock while some are seen crying after noticing the boy’s missing finger.

Ravhalusani Ratshitanga, the 12-year-old’s father, says the group of children had agreed to shut the door and questioned why no teacher was present in the class while the incident took place.

He added: “My son was crying a lot and had to return to the same school where he must face these kids daily.”

He added that he had not heard from any of the parents of the children involved in the incident, which took place on 20 February.

Ratshitanga said the boy’s finger could not be repaired and that it was the same hand the boy used to write with.

The boy’s father shared details of the report he filed with the school, which states that the school rushed the boy to the hospital and kept the finger on ice until and the child was later operated on.

The boy returned to school on Monday, 2 March.

His father said had laid a complaint with the department of education but were yet to receive feedback and he plans to sue the department.