'Hanged' boy may need hypnosis

2005-08-08 22:02

Philip de Bruin

Johannesburg - Jovan Smit, 10, who was found unconscious and hanging by his school blazer from the burglar bars in his school's toilets three weeks ago, may have to be hypnotised in order to find out exactly what happened on that day.

His mother's fiance, Jurie Meyer, said: "Jovan's subconscious mind is blocking the incident and we still don't know what happened.

"We are taking him for intensive psychological tests on Tuesday and will afterwards decide whether to make use of hypnotism."

Meyer said the negative long-term effects of the incident, which led to the boy being in a coma for five days, were only now becoming clear.

Aggressive

"He is particularly aggressive and gets frustrated quickly.

In the past he was excellent at maths, but now he can't subtract 10 from 20. He has also almost completely lost the ability to write," Meyer said.

Jovan would apparently "definitely not" return to Hermanstad Primary School, where the incident took place, Meyer added.

"He will need special care and we will have him tested at a school that specialises in helping disabled children."

Despite these problems, Jovan was doing fine, Meyer said.

"We keep him as busy as possible. We drive around with him and take him to places like the zoo to help stimulate him."

- Beeld