It’s 2003, and Grade 8 pupil Christian Rabie is playing with his friends. They’re flipping each other in the air in the cricket nets. Its all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and that’s exactly what happened to poor Christian. He landed on the ground and fractured his skull and ended up having to spend six weeks in intensive care and was on a ventilator for 45 days.
Fast-forward to today, 10 years after the incident. Christian Rabie is studying law at the University of SA, following his dad’s footsteps. The North Gauteng High Court has ordered the MEC for education to pay him R23,5 million in damages. That’s R20,2 million for loss of income and earning capacity, R800,000 in general damages, R787,386 towards future medical expenses and an amount of R1,6 million as a 7,5% add-on for the cost of protecting the award.
The court ruled that the department of education was liable for the damages, as young Christian lacked the maturity to realise he could be injured, and the school had a duty to supervise its pupils to ensure they didn’t do anything too dangerous.
[Source : News24]
