The school principal who tasked a pupil with extracting his smartphone from a pit toilet has been charged with attempted murder.

The 49-year-old man is expected to appear in the Nqanqathu, formerly Maclear, magistrate’s court today, DispatchLIVE reports.

Police spokesperson Capt Khaya Tonjeni confirmed the man was arrested on March 15 in Ugie.

Dispatch reported the 11-year-old grade 4 pupil was paid R50 to try to retrieve the phone from a school toilet on March 1.

“It is alleged the suspect made a 11-year-old child undress and [lowered] him into a toilet full of human faeces,” Tonjeni said.

“The child was allegedly tied with a rope on the upper body and lowered in the toilet pit by other pupils in an effort to retrieve the cellphone after it fell into a pit latrine.”

DispatchLIVE