TUT in shock over violent muggings
TUT management are in shock over violent attacks on students at a Metrorail station as investigations are underway.
|||Pretoria - Three students from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) were mugged and injured in three separate violent incidents at the Metrorail station off the Pretoria West campus on Thursday.
A 20-year-old student was shot and wounded during an apparent robbery while on his way to class. He was shot three times in his left hand, chest and shoulder.
Spokesman for emergency services Emer-G-Med, Braam Kruger, said it is believed that the student was accosted by three armed suspects who demanded his belongings.
“He was then shot at close range in the chest, shoulder and hand, leaving the 20-year-old man in a critical condition,” said Kruger.
Emer-G-Med arrived along with Netcare 911 at the scene at 11am. Paramedics stabilised the patient.
Netcare 911 spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said: “A Netcare helicopter was dispatched to the scene to airlift the critically injured student to a Pretoria hospital.”
Two other students from TUT were stabbed in two separate muggings at the same station. It is believed that one of the students was stabbed 12 times and was taken to hospital in a critical condition. The other student who was stabbed is said to in a stable condition at hospital.
TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said the university was extremely concerned about these incidents and strongly condemned the attacks. She said large numbers of TUT students and staff daily commuted to campus using Metrorail trains. The train station was in the public domain, but in view of the risk to the safety of TUT staff and students, TUT management would urgently engage with Metrorail to ensure that the station is guarded.
Professor Lourens van Staden, vice-chancellor and principal, expressed shock and concern about the situation and extended words of comfort to the families of the injured students.
Lillian Mofokeng, spokeswoman for Passenger Rail Association of SA, said: “At this moment we are investigating the detail of what really happened. Information is sketchy as we do not have full time security based at the station”.
sakhile.ndlazi@inl.co.za
Pretoria News