Teen Killed For Not Having Cell
Elsabé Brits, news24.com (SA), August 2, 2004
A young gymnast was stabbed to death for a cellphone he didn’t have while helping a friend find her missing dog in a local park.
Eldau-Rico Wright, 17, was stabbed twice in the chest.
Megan Coetzee, 11, told on Monday how she bumped into Eldau-Rico in the street and asked him to help her look for the family’s miniature Dobermann, Tammy, who had disappeared earlier in the day.
Megan and Eldau-Rico both attended Destinata School, a school in Meyerton for children with learning disabilities.
Megan said: “Eldau-Rico and I walked to the park near our house in Maasdorp Street and young guys shouted at me ‘Hey baby’. I didn’t answer, but they came closer and asked Eldau-Rico for his cellphone.”
According to Megan, Eldau-Rico said he did not have one. The next minute, one of the youths pulled a knife out of his sleeve and stabbed Eldau-Rico twice in the chest.
‘He collapsed in our street’
They then apparently ran off towards Sharpeville.
“Eldau-Rico looked out for me and said I must be careful that they didn’t hurt me. We should run away.”
“But, the whole time we were running, he wa saying, ‘Please, please’.
“He collapsed in our street (Maasdorp Street). He stood up again. But, then he fell and didn’t get up.”
According to Linda Rumble, a neighbour of Megan’s family, the child ran to their house in hysterics and screamed “my friend has been stabbed with a knife”.
According to Rumble, Eldau-Rico was still alive when her husband, Neville, got to him. They phoned the police and called an ambulance, but the teenager died about 10 minutes later.
