Pta man held for racist attack
2003-02-17 19:20
Pretoria - A 20-year-old man was arrested in Pretoria on Monday in connection with an alleged racially-motivated attack on a group of black children in Montana on Friday, police reported.
The man would appear in court shortly on charges of serious assault, kidnapping and crimen injuria, said police spokesperson Inspector Percy Morokane.
A group of seven black boys between the ages of 14 and 16 attended a function at the Montana High School on Friday evening.
Afterwards, they were allegedly assaulted by a group of whites driving a Volkswagen Golf, Morokane said. They were beaten and kicked, and one of the boys was kidnapped by his assailants. He was dropped off at an undisclosed spot later that evening.
The motive for the attack was not known, but the teenagers were allegedly called racist names - hence the charge of crimen injuria.
The man arrested on Monday was a former pupil of the school, and was believed to have been the instigator in Friday's attack, Morokane said.
Police have the names of two others among the group of whites, and expected to arrest them soon.
- SAPA