Koalabata teen dies after gang mob attack
MOLULA MOFOSI
KOALABATA – A seventeen-year-old boy who was brutally stabbed in the stomach succumbed to the critical injuries and died in hospital on Wednesday this week, Public Eye has learned. The boy was the victim of Koalabata gang attacks on Sunday. It is alleged a revenge gang attack was launched at one of the local drinking spots by a gang of older men from a neighbouring village.
The high school student was one of the four people who were reportedly injured when a mob of men ran amok in the village armed with knives, arrows and axes with the intention to hurt any person in their way. Women, children and men of Ha Sepinare said the men who attacked the village seemed to be aged between 40 to 45 and, according to the Community Police Forum Chairperson (Mahokela) it is not the first time men from other villages, namely; Ha Foso, Sekamaneng and Koalabata had gone berserk in the village.
He said it was unfortunate that this time child had been caught in the line of fire, adding one of the victims was hit three times on the head and chest before his stomach was sliced with a sharp object. The father of the deceased boy told Public Eye that he was returning home from a church service that Sunday when he learned that some unidentified men had stormed a shop and attacked everyone inside. Three other boys managed to escape through the windows while his son could not make it.
Eye witnesses told Public Eye that the attack followed a fight between one of the assailants and one youth the night before but no one could explain what the real cause of the fight was. Some of the villagers said this was a continuation of rivalry between gangs, especially bands of initiation school graduates, which has been going on for the past four years.
However, they could also not rule out the involvement of other criminal bands such as notorious gangs from the prison that subscribe to certain cults. Villagers have appealed to the police and the army to come to their rescue. The case has already been reported to the police and investigations are continuing. However, the police have made a special appeal to the community to tip them off with information without which police said it would be difficult to solve these criminal activities and the murder case.