Durban — The Pinetown Magistrate’s Court would make a ruling towards the end of February in the murder trial against a teen accused of stabbing and killing a fellow pupil.
Magistrate J Goorie indicated this on Tuesday after being addressed at length on the merits of the case by the State and defence.
In his address, prosecutor Andre de Nysschen asked that the court convict the teen of murder and reject his self-defence submission as the facts of the case did not support it.
Jayden Glazer, 15, was allegedly stabbed after school by Ryleigh Naidoo, a Grade 10 fellow pupil in Ashley, Pinetown, in 2022.
The two teens both attended Chosen Independent Studies where Glazer was in Grade 9.
It is alleged that on the day of the stabbing, there had been a fistfight between Glazer and the accused.
The teen accused, who was 16 at the time of the alleged commission of the offence, faces a charge of murder. The trial was heard in-camera due to him being underage as well as other witnesses.
However, the accused turned 18 at the end of January and on Monday the media was able to sit in on court proceedings for the first time.
“The accused stabbing the deceased was intentional; there was no justification for him stabbing him with such force in a vulnerable part of his body,” said De Nysschen.
“The accused, with the facts before the court, deliberately stabbed the victim and he had to foresee that it would lead to the deceased’s demise,” said De Nysschen.
“The accused had a choice not to participate in the fistfight and could have uttered the words, ‘I do not want to fight you’ when he met up with Glazer.
“But unfortunately the accused brought a knife and stabbed the deceased in the stomach.
“His justification for using the knife is that the accused made a sudden movement, but as seen in the video this movement is when the deceased is seen moving backwards from the accused.
“This was not a cut, it was a deep wound. Anybody would be aware of the damage that this type of knife would cause.”
Evidence heard in the trial was that Glazer was stabbed with a Shogun steak knife. The stabbing was caught on a cellphone camera by one of Glazer’s friends and a State witness. In the video, the pupils can be heard shouting “We said no weapons” when Naidoo produced the knife.
“The use of a knife shows that he exceeded the thought process of self-defence,” said De Nysschen.
His suggestions of being bullied by Glazer and his friends were exaggerated to justify his actions, he said.
“His actions don’t represent that of a person who was afraid of getting into a fistfight. Right after school, he goes to his girlfriend’s house. They take her dog out for a walk along with her little brother and the accused grabs a knife before this.
“In her statement, she says she was aware he had a knife and had said it was for self-defence. The taking of the knife was anticipation by the accused of having to use the knife at the fistfight.”
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