A 14-year-old girl of Indian origin, who last week became the youngest person in South Africa to be convicted for murder, has been allowed by educational authorities to appear for her school examinations.
The girl was only 12-and-a-half year old when she hatched a plot to murder her socialite grandmother, 59-year-old Radha Govender of Pietermaritzburg, about 100 km from Durban.
She was found guilty of hiring two black African men to stab her grandmother two years ago. The two men have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The girl, who is currently under her mother's supervision, can write her examinations while the court decides what kind of sentence should be imposed.
A spokesperson of the education department, Sarah Laping, said that in terms of the law, the young girl could not be expelled from school. "If a pupil is expelled for some transgression, he/she can attend another school, because schooling is compulsory," said Lapping.
Meanwhile, the girl's lawyer, Mahendra Ori, is fighting to keep her out of prison. "We will call a law lecturer who has written several books on juvenile offenders to give evidence in mitigation for the girl when the court resumes for sentence on December 13. We also intend calling other experts", Ori said today. He said they would plead for the girl to be placed under custodial sentence of her mother with official correctional supervision.
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