Teacher at top school arrested in sex scandal

Barbara Hollands EAST LONDON CORRESPONDENT hollandsb@avusa.co.za

AN Eastern Cape mother whose only son died tragically last year is facing a new family trauma after her two young daughters accused their grandfather – a teacher at a top East London school – of repeatedly sexually molesting them.

The youngest girl is the twin of the woman‘s disabled son who died following a violent epileptic fit last February.

The 61-year-old man, who is the woman‘s stepfather and has taught at East London‘s prestigious Selborne College for 25 years, was arrested in Beacon Bay this week and appeared in the East London regional court charged with indecently assaulting two minors. He was not asked to plead and is out on R1000 bail.

Police are also investigating a charge of possession of pornographic material against him.

In an exclusive interview, his distraught stepdaughter, a nurse at Frere Hospital, said she was still trying to come to terms with the death of her nine-year- old son last year and now had to face the damage her mother‘s husband had allegedly inflicted on her daughters, aged 10 and 13.

“I am still grieving for my boy and now I feel betrayed, angry and disappointed, especially as my own mother did not take my side. She did not believe the girls.”

The alleged abuse took place for at least a year and a half at the Beacon Bay home of the couple the girls called ouma and oupa. The complainant, 34, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her daughters, said the girls‘ grandfather, who married her mother seven years ago, often babysat them because of the long hours she spent at the hospital.

She said the girls had also lived with her mother and stepfather for lengthy periods while she was unemployed. “At one stage he got me a room where I lived with my disabled boy while the girls lived with them.”

Following his arrest, the woman took out an interdict against both her mother and stepfather because she was afraid of him and worried her mother would try to influence her to withdraw the charges.

“My girls first told me about it (the abuse) in April last year, but when I told my mother she said they were imagining it. She said she would keep an eye on oupa.”

But two weeks ago the girls again raised the alarm. “My older daughter said he came into her room at night and lifted her sheets while she was sleeping and when she asked him what he wanted he went red and walked out. I asked her why she didn‘t call her granny, but she said granny would not believe her.”

After a sleepover at their grandparents‘ home two weeks ago, the younger daughter asked her mother why her sister‘s private parts were on her oupa‘s cellphone camera.

“My 13-year-old daughter told me that recently when he touched her private parts and breasts she told him she did not like it. He asked her what her boyfriend would do one day, but she said a boyfriend would not do that to her.”

The mother said she believed her daughters “100 per cent”.

“Last week, when I asked my younger daughter if she was sure of all the things that happened, she shouted that God should come down and listen to her and if he could not, then her twin brother should come back from heaven to listen to her.

“In the past she‘s said she did not tell me of all the abuse because she was scared oupa would stop helping me financially and by giving them lifts after school. She wanted to protect me. Now I must be strong for my girls. I‘d rather sleep under a bridge than receive help from him again,” said the woman, who lives in a Southernwood flat with the girls and her new husband, whom she married this week.

“We have been together for three years and decided to marry now because the girls really love him and wanted us to get married. We want them to feel secure.”

She said while she had conflicting feelings about cutting her mother out of her life, she had little choice.

“I regret she didn‘t open her eyes about this. If someone told me my husband was playing with my grandchild‘s vagina, I would watch them and confront them and take them to a doctor, but she didn‘t. I‘m disappointed to put my mother through this because she is a good person – maybe she is overwhelmed by love for him. I am worried for her, but I can‘t take her side.”

She said when she first moved from KwaZulu Natal to East London after her divorce four years ago, a woman who had known her mother‘s husband told her that “he loves little girls”.

“I thought he loved spoiling them, but now I understand what she meant.”

Following the teacher‘s arrest, the woman said her daughters wanted “to change their looks”.

“They want to wear earrings because he would not allow them to and they want to cut their hair. They want to hide from him because they are scared. When someone knocked on my door this week they locked the doors, closed all the curtains and hid away because they thought it was him. He is very domineering and when the girls were living with him he did not like them going to sleepovers at friends. He got angry if they slept out – I think he was jealous of them.

“Now they say they never want to see their oupa and ouma again. They say he should go to jail. For my mother‘s sake I don‘t know if I want him to go to jail, but he must just stay away from us. I feel helpless because the whole family is now against me and I feel no one cares.

“They say I will get into trouble for making these accusations, but I have to stand by my girls.”

Meanwhile, Selborne College parents have reacted with shock at the news of the teacher‘s arrest. Some called for his immediate suspension. Those who spoke to Weekend Post on condition of anonymity said the entire Selborne community was discussing the shocking allegations. Some were receiving calls from as far afield as Port Alfred and Cape Town asking who the teacher was.

“Everyone is talking about it,” said one mother. “I am in shock. I was speechless when I heard because I worry that the school kids are okay – especially the younger, more vulnerable ones. He should be suspended.”

Another mother, whose son will be moving into Selborne College next year after graduating from Selborne Primary, called for teachers to be screened more carefully.

“If he can abuse his own family members, then there is reason enough to believe he could do it to other kids, but I know Selborne is an excellent school and they will deal with this. Hopefully, he will be suspended even before the trial starts.”

Selborne College principal Sam Gunn said the school was not involved in the case and would not be addressing parents and pupils about the issue at this stage.

“It is true that he is a teacher here, but this is a private family matter and has nothing to do with the school. We have not been involved in any investigation and I am not familiar with the details of it, so it is best for the police investigation to take its course.”

Police spokesman Captain Matati Tana said the case was being investigated by the child protection unit and the teacher would appear in court again on November 18.

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