Teen stabbed at municipal dump site

A teenager was stabbed to death during a heated argument over a knife he had found at a municipal dumping site on the outskirts of Addo.

Leonard Davids, 15, was allegedly stabbed in the neck during an argument with his 14-year-old friend, who cannot be named as he is a minor, on Thursday morning.

The fight erupted when the two boys had an argument over who was going to claim the knife they had found on a municipal dump in Sunland between Addo town and Kirkwood.

By Friday morning, the 14-year-old had been arrested after his parents handed him over to police.

Davids, who is from Jansenville, had been staying with relatives on a farm outside Sunland since last year.

Davids’ aunt, Anna Davids, 40, said the family was devastated by the attack.

“They are best friends and we do not understand why he [14-year-old] would [allegedly] do this. They always go to the tip to find items that they then sell to another man. They do it every day. After the stabbing, two people who live near the tip witnessed what happened and ran to call me.

“The boys were [reportedly] scratching around looking for items when he [Davids] found a knife. He put the knife in his bag and continued searching for other things,” she said.

“The other child then came and asked him [Davids] for the knife. They started to argue when he took the knife out of the bag. As he took it out, the other boy grabbed it and then apparently [allegedly] stabbed him.”

Davids said the two men who witnessed the stabbing then ran to call her. “I called the police straight away and went to the police station. [But] I could not go there to see him lying there,” she said.

“I managed to contact his parents and tell them what had happened but they cannot get here from Jansenville as they are working on the farm. The police are making arrangements to get the body up there.”

Asked if she had spoken to the friend’s family, Davids said she had not as police had advised her not to.

“I have not spoken to them and I have not been there. They live fairly close to me.”

Asked why her nephew lived with her, Davids said it was a family arrangement and that he had been there since last year but was going home to his parents later in the year.

Police spokesman Sergeant Majola Nkohli said that the stabbing happened at about 9.30am. “When police arrived, the lifeless body of Davids was found lying on the ground with one stab wound in the neck,” he said.

“The minor who [allegedly] stabbed him had run away and detectives launched a search to locate him. Informer networks were activated and information was being followed up.”

By 8am on Friday, the child’s mother had heard about the stabbing and handed the 14-year-old over to the police.

By afternoon, the minor was released under his parents’ supervision with a warning to appear in the Addo Children’s Court on Tuesday.

Earlier this week a Uitenhage High School Grade 8 pupil John Luke Agulhas, 14, died after being stabbed in the chest with a peeling knife, allegedly by an 18-year-old, who was arrested shortly afterwards.

The tragedy occurred on Tuesday afternoon after a cricket match in Gerald Smith Township, when the teams engaged in some teasing, which escalated into insults and ridicule.

The suspect was arrested and appeared in the Uitenhage Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on a charge of murder. His mother paid his R800 bail and the case was postponed to May 8 for further investigation.