The community of Hluhluwe in the far north of KwaZulu Natal is still reeling in shock after a man entered a school, beat and sliced his girlfriend with a bush knife in front of her colleagues and schoolkids.

The incident happened in Khongela Primary in Hluhluwe on Tuesday morning. It is alleged that the man entered the school by jumping the fence and when the security personnel questioned him, he became violent and headed straight to the staffroom where he found his ex girlfriend and started beating her. A teacher who is not authorised to speak to the media said that they are still trying to come to terms with what happened on Tuesday in front of them and the learners.

"What happened is something I will never forget in my life. The guy was so violent and no one could stop him from butchering his girlfriend. We thought that he has killed her but with God's mercy she is fighting for her life in hospital. They guy told us if anyone tried to stop him, they will rue the day they were born. He was only focusing on the face not the body," the teacher said.

The teacher said that what is traumatic about the incident is the fact that the suspect was butchering the woman and licking blood that was coming out of the woman. "It was like those horror movies where someone will murder someone and drink the blood of the victim. The screams and the cry of my colleague for help will be hard to forget. We were never ready for this as this was a normal Tuesday. We are happy that the assistant teacher is still alive but the trauma of seeing that happening in front of us will haunt us," the teacher said. The school has since been temporarily closed following the incident. The suspect was later found hanging in a tree in a nearby bushes in the area on Wednesday. Umkhanyakude police spokesperson Captain Sibusiso Mkhize confirmed the incident. "We are investigating a case of attempted murder, assault with intent to do gravious bodily harm and culpable homicide," he said.