Creche principal guilty after biting
“I am not a cannibal,” said a creche principal who has been found guilty of biting a six-yearold boy in her care in 2016.
Joyful Noise creche principal Cindy Reely, 45, of King William’s Town, pleaded guilty and was found guilty in the King William’s Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The spokesman for the provincial National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Tsepo Ndwalaza, said the case was postponed to August 16 for a presentencing report.
Reely yesterday told the Dispatch she had pleaded guilty on advice from her lawyer.
She had admitted that she bit the child but claimed no harm was intended. Reely confirmed that she was still teaching at the school with about 25 children in her class.
“I am not a cannibal. I have been taking care of children for more that 20 years,” she said.
Reely accused the boy’s 58year-old grandmother, who cannot be named to protect the boy’s identity, of “making a mountain out of a molehill.
“Yes I did bite the child and the intention was to teach him that biting another child was wrong. It was a case of an eye for an eye. I placed my teeth on his arm but my teeth did not penetrate,” she said.
Reely told the Dispatch: “My lawyer advised me to plead guilty so the case could be hurried up and finalised.”
Last year the Dispatch reported about the effort of the boy’s grandmother to get justice for her grandson after he came home with bite marks.
The emotional grandmother said the verdict was validation that she had fought a worthy fight.
“All I ever wanted was to show people that everyone has a right to stand up against what is wrong, and the verdict has proven my motive.”
She said she was happy that Reely was found guilty.
“We have taken him for counselling sessions and for now he seems okay, but I fear one day the memory of the incident, which he managed to store in the back of his mind, might be unlocked. What will happen then?” asked the grandmother.