Sipho Masombuka

Sipho Masombuka

Unable to accept being rejected, a school bus driver allegedly knocked down an 18-year-old pupil after she refused to have sex with him.

Portia Mareletse, a Grade 10 pupil at Thupe Tabane High in Cullinan, east of Pretoria, allegedly spent five days in the Steve Biko Academic Hospital after sustaining serious head injuries.

Mareletse said the driver (name known to Sowetan) started pestering her last January but she constantly refused to have sex with him.

"He started by threatening not to take me to school," Mareletse said.

"He left me behind on several occasions. I reported the matter to my principal and grandmother but nothing was done."

She said on the morning of August 5 the driver picked her and the other children up as usual in Kameeldrift, outside Pretoria, to take them to school.

"I was the last one to get off the bus," she said. "As I was about to step out of the bus he pulled off. I fell and hit the stairs with the back of my head. Then he braked suddenly, throwing me out of the bus.

Principal James Ngwane confirmed the incident. He said he had compiled a report and submitted it to the provincial department of education.