Krugersdorp School Murder

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Johannesburg - The 18-year-old matric pupil who allegedly killed a fellow pupil with a sword on Monday, had envisaged a bloodbath.

One of his friends, Shaun Collins, 17, a Grade-12 pupil at Nic Diederichs Technical High School in Krugersdorp, spoke on Tuesday about how the schoolboy had told him and other friends what he planned to do.

"He wanted to wait until the children assembled in the hall and then kill them.

"He used the word 'massacre'; I understood he meant a bloodbath."

Minutes before the assembly began, the schoolboy put on a mask, pulled out a samurai sword and slashed open 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius's carotid artery.

He then walked around the school and apparently injured three other people - two workers Sam Namamela, 43, Joseph Kodisang, 26, and a Grade-11 pupil Stephan Bouwer, 18.

'Losing it'

Shaun told on Tuesday evening how he and his group of friends had seen the teenager "losing it".

Shortly after Shaun arrived at school at about 07:10, three of his friends came to him and said the boy's "head isn't right".

When Shaun and the others got to him, he was already wearing his mask - similar to the one worn by Corey Taylor, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Slipknot.

He was rearranging three swords, including a smallish Katana and a Sekizo Ninja sword, in his belt, and putting on gloves.

He had apparently made the mask about three weeks before the attack.

Bomb

"At first we thought he was joking but then we saw a bomb in his right hand."

It is believed he had been making bombs since last year.

"We kept our distance the whole time because we were really scared of him. I told him to put down the bomb but he refused.

"I took the bomb from his hand and threw it away. It didn't do anything.

"The whole time he was speaking with a weird voice, almost like the Joker's voice in Batman.

'Today is the massacre'

"He also kept saying things like, 'Today I'm going to do it. Today is the massacre.'"

Shaun said the boy then insisted that Max Brechlin, 18, also put on a mask.

The next moment he turned to Shaun and said, "Do you want to see something cool?"

He then pulled out his sword and Jacques - who happened to be walking past with a group of pupils - was hacked to death.

"That sword was as blunt as a butter knife. I couldn't believe the force with which he struck. It was a very deep wound," Shaun said.

The pupils of his eyes apparently looked "smaller than usual".

Shaun said he had noticed earlier that the pupil had two other masks in his school bag: a gas mask and a clown mask, similar to those worn by other members of Slipknot.

Shaun and his friends also made similar masks and wore them at school on two occasions.

'The music changed him'

"I was very interested in Slipknot. The drummer is amazing; I would like to be able to play like him one day.

"But after I saw my friend? It's as if the music had changed him. I think about it very differently now," Shaun said.

The suspect will appear in Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on a charge of murder and three charges of attempted murder.

Max will appear on charges of conspiracy to murder and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Source: Schoolboy 'planned a bloodbath' : South Africa: News: News24

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Many people have blamed the music Harmse was listening too, chiefly the band Slipknot. Was it the music that turned him violent, or was the music simply a symptom of an already disturbed mind? Who is really to blame?

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Pierre Eksteen, who directs a South African student support network, was among those holding "satanic music" partially responsible for the attack. "He came here camouflaged as the guy from Slipknot," Eksteen told the Times (in South Africa). "We know the wrong kind of music and drugs have bad effects. Young people need to be informed of the effects of bad Satanic music."

Though the South African media has been hounding Slipknot and their label all week, the band has not released a comment. "We've had no confirmation that it was, in fact, a Slipknot mask," a Roadrunner Records representative told the Times. "The band is not going to respond."

To Slipknot's doubtless relief, the head of Krugersdorp police's investigative psychology unit took a different tack. "Whenever there is a murder, people jump to conclusions, and always God or Satan told the killers to do it," said senior superintendent Gerard Labuschagne. "These notions shouldn't be taken seriously because it is straightforward: someone, of their own free will, can kill another person."

Source: Slipknot blamed for inspiring school murder | Music | guardian.co.uk