The 57-year-old allegedly sexually assaulted 87 girls from the primary school.
The scholar patroller, who allegedly sexually assaulted 87 schoolgirls from AB Xuma Primary School, appeared in Protea Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The 57-year-old allegedly sexually assaulted 87 girls from the primary school.
Prosecutor Cheryl Slack told the court she could not confirm that 87 children were sexually assaulted by the accused as reported in the media.
She said the state was not yet ready for a bail application because only 15 children between the ages of five and 12 years have made victim statements to the police.
As part of the continuing investigation the accused will be placed before an identity parade.
“In all fairness, the state requests that he be detained at the Orlando Police Station for the ID parade,” prosecutor Slack said.
Lawyer Denise Mabasa for the accused said they would be making a formal bail application following an identity parade.
Magistrate Herman Badenhorst warned the accused that since he had gotten private legal representatives, legal aid would be reluctant to assist him if he ran out of funds.
The matter was postponed to 25 October to allow for further investigations.
Outside the court, Klaas Kwakwa from the Patrolling forum said their contracts were terminated by the government due to payment disputes since 2014.
Kwakwa said he had tried to organise meetings with various government departments with no success as the forum felt the numerous sexual crimes against learners was due to School governing bodies hiring people who weren’t vetted.
“We have been trained … we don’t even know this man he is not part of our union,” Kwakwa said in apparent reference to the accused.
A disgruntled woman said she was angry and disappointed that no one from the school governing body was assisting with the matter.
“Our children are traumatised and scared to go to school,” said the woman who did not give her name.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said that the school patrollers are supplied by the department of community safety. He said as of 2018, there would be no unauthorised patrollers and an educator at each school in the province would be allocated to dealing with sexual offences.
Lesufi also revealed that “two more cases were brought to the department yesterday … another scholar patroller in Hammanskraal and a choirmaster …” have been accused of sexually assaulting schoolchildren.
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