‘Girls told what to say in school sexual abuse trial’
Court to pass judgment on school patroller
The 13 young girls who accused a school patroller of sexual abuse were caught in a feud among adults.
This was the submission made by the lawyer of the man accused of rape and sexual assault, Johannes Molefe, in the South Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge yesterday. Lumka Qoqo told the court that the girls were coached and fabricated stories. Molefe was a school patroller at AB Xuma Primary School in Soweto last year when the girls accused him of abuse. Qoqo said teachers at the school did not want the principal and used the children to discredit her. She said the girls told the same story in a similar manner. “It is clear that the rapes and sexual assault did not happen,” she said. Qoqo said it was impossible that the girls were violated in broad daylight because there was a lot of movement at the school.
“How possible is it that this could happen when people are there. It is highly impossible...” Qoqo said children could be easily influenced to say things that did not happen.
She said the state could not prove rape because there were no physical injuries on the girls. Qoqo said the language used by the girls to describe the incidents were not in accordance with their age. “Mkhulu touched me down my breast to my vagina. Another child said he touched my private part without my permission. Children don’t talk like that. It is proof that they were coached,” she said. Qoqo asked that the court give Molefe the benefit of the doubt and acquit him. Prosecutor Jackie Steyn said medical evidence did not assist the court as examinations were made months or weeks after the incidents. “The court must bear in mind that these are young children. At some stage the defence wanted them to remember even the dates. These incidents happened a year ago, they cannot remember every- she said.
The matter was postponed to later this week for judgment.
Children don’t normally talk like that