A teenage boy was beaten up at Clifton 4th Beach during post-valedictory celebrations. SUPPLIED
A video of a young man being assaulted at Clifton’s 4th Beach is doing the rounds on social media.
The video started circulating late Friday evening as matriculants around Cape Town began their annual post-valedictory celebrations on the beach when the incident occurred. Each year, teens gather at the beach to celebrate their last day of school before final exams commence.
In the video, a group of teens are seen attacking the young man while various onlookers watch and jeer.
SAPS commander, Colonel Andre Traut said the Camps Bay Police and other law enforcement agencies responded to an alleged fight at the beach on Friday evening.
While the videos show the boy being badly beaten up, he chose not to open a case of assault.
“It was established that an individual was assaulted, but he refused to lodge an official complaint,” Traut said.
While various people on Twitter have commented saying the assaulted matric pupil has died, Traut confirmed that this is untrue.
Police continued to monitor the situation where a large number of young people gathered, and no further incidents were reported.
Twitter user, @idkron , said they will never attend “matric celebration days” on Clifton.
never going to clifton on days deemed as “matric celebration days”bc why are people being beat up on the beach !??? also too many people aum
— the leaky cauldRON👻🎃 (@idkron_) October 1, 2021
Another Twitter user, @Marky_A,B said his daughter was upset after he told her she couldn’t attend the celebrations at Clifton 4th Beach yesterday.
U know,, my 19yr,, was also planning on going there yesterday,,(she spinned a story about going out,) but it just didn't add up,, so we forced her to stay,,
— mark (@Marky_AB) October 2, 2021
I don't even Wana think about it.
In response to the tweet above, he said: “I showed her the clips this morning,,, (gister was sy heeldag bolle wange),, but we told her, the world is a cruel place sometimes.”
Criminologist Guy Lamb said the police could open investigations on cases like these depending on the seriousness of the case.
“This happens regularly, and the police won’t press charges unless it is within the public interest or if the victim or one of the affected parties are seriously injured,” he said.
He added: “They need to have a victim willing to testify in court, and they need to have witnesses.”
Lamb said the police can still open an investigation on the assault at a later stage if it is within the public interest.
“If there is a lot of pressure applied and concerns are raised, this might happen. The police might be compelled to open a case.”