Janet Ntozini, an 18-year-old from Muizenberg High School, has been lauded as a heroine after she was murdered while saving a disabled teen from attack. She was stabbed in the back three times over the weekend when she defended the disabled teen against a 23-year-old who was attempting to attack the teen over a previous disagreement.
Ntozini was reportedly stabbed in her side when she told the attacker to put the knife away. She was rushed to hospital by her uncle after being attacked by the 23-year-old, who also stabbed her in the back, but tragically succumbed to her wounds.
“We are grieving. It was so brutal and sudden. She was just a schoolgirl standing up for another person,” Ntozini’s uncle, Sithabantu Sigonyela, said to the Cape Times.
The attacker appeared in court on Tuesday, and locals from the Vrygrond area were reported to have vandalized his home.
“The 23-year-old suspect was arrested and detained that night and appeared in the Muizenberg Magistrate’s Court (on Tuesday),” South African Police Services (SAPS) spokesperson FC Van Wyk said. “There was a report of a house being vandalised and cars being burnt in Doring Street, Vrygrond. The owner, who is not a suspect in the murder, was interviewed by Muizenberg SAPS and does not want to open a criminal case.”
Jessica Shelver, the spokesperson for Western Cape MEC for Education Debbie Schäfer, said that counselling is being provided to the grieving students at Ntozini’s highschool. “Our heartfelt condolences go to the pupil’s family, friends and the school community. We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of such a young life,” Shelver added.
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