UPDATE: Michael recovering after beating

16-year-old Michael Braine, who was in hospital with multiple injuries after a fight in the lower Ballito Village last week, is back home and recovering.

Braine was left with with at least three burst blood vessels causing bleeding on the brain, a fractured skull, his jaw broken in five places, three teeth knocked completely out and deafness in one ear.

Word of the incident quickly went viral on Facebook, attracting shock and condemnation. However there are major discrepancies in the two parties’ versions of events that night.

Also read: Questions after teen in hospital from brutal beating in Ballito Village

According to Braine’s father David, his son and a few friends had been at Salmon Bay and began walking home when they stopped to talk to some other friends in Ballito Village.

“He still phoned me to say ‘dad, I’m going to be out a bit later because I’m here with some friends’,” said his father.

David told the Courier his son got into a verbal altercation with some other people and was eventually attacked from the side.

“Eventually, Michael just stepped forward and said ‘look, if you are going to hit me, hit me,’ and that is when he was attacked from the side.”

David said the man who hit his son, Lewellyn Labuschagne, approached from the back and hit him from the side before kneeing him in the face and then proceeding to kick and jump on his head when Michael fell down.

Labuschagne meanwhile, tells a different story.

He says he went out for a friend’s birthday celebrations when he ran into an extremely inebriated Michael Braine, who was very aggressive towards several people and was shouting wildly.

“He was shouting: ‘go ahead and hit me, I dare you, my dad will kill you’.”

He said Michael was apparently so intoxicated that he was slapping himself in the face while shouting this. According to Labuschagne, as he walked past, Michael pushed him and began shouting the same thing.

“He came forward at me and out of pure reaction I head-butted him. Then he took a step back and I thought he was making room to swing, so I hit him once. That’s all – there was no kneeing, no kicking and definitely no jumping on heads.”

David meanwhile, says he is not buying this.

“There have been a lot of rumours flying around that Michael had been drinking or the like,” said David.

“Look, I’m not naive, but that would still be no justification for this.”

Since the assault last weekend, David said his son was out of hospital.

“It is going to be a slow recovery. Michael has hemorrhaging on the brain so doctors are very concerned about seizures and the like, that is why he has been put on anti-seizure meds.”

He said they had been in touch with dentists regarding the reconstructive surgery Michael will need to replace the teeth that were knocked out.

Umhlali SAPS spokesperson captain Vinny Pillay confirmed that a case of attempted murder had been opened.

David told the Courier that police had taken a statement from his son on Friday.

“Is justice actually going to take place? I don’t know about that.

“What really gets me is that this oke is still running around out there.”

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