A student arrested for allegedly setting off petrol bombs and locking two security guards in a burning building at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) is expected to appear in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Byron Dick faces charges of attempted murder, arson, public violence and contravening a High Court order in connection with two blazes at the university’s Bellville campus.
On October 13 the accused was remanded in custody after his court appearance to enable investigators to probe his background for a comprehensive profile.
The profile would enable the State to decide whether to oppose Dick’s release on bail, or to fix a bail amount in agreement with the defence team.
The profile needed to determine whether Dick was in fact a student at the university and, if so, what he was studying, and how far he had progressed.
On the attempted murder charge, Dick is alleged to have set the campus security office alight with a petrol bomb, and to have locked two security guards in the burning office.
The guards were reportedly rescued in time, and rushed to hospital, where one of them was reportedly in a critical condition.
Dick also allegedly petrol bombed the university’s administration building and ignored a High Court order that banned anyone from doing anything illegal on the campus. The interdict was issued after an urgent application last year to curb student unrest.
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