‘This made me feel uncomfortable, dirty and ashamed’
SENSITIVE READERS MIGHT BE DISTURBED BY THESE DETAILS
Seven instances of alleged abuse by Sidney Frankel from about 1972 to 1991
Nicole Levenstein, 46, resident in Israel
I would visit Sidney Frankel’s farm in Kyalami with [my brother] Paul, George and Kate [Rosenberg] when I was between seven and nine years old. Frankel would be the only adult.
During visits he would take me out of the swimming pool and position me on his lap to have direct contact with his penis and would rub it against me.
He would dry my genitals and put his hands inside my swimming costume and stimulate and penetrate the vagina with his fingers.
After swimming he would tell us to leave our underwear off and do exercises on the lawn, which involved exposing our genitals to him.
He would walk over to me and demonstrate how to make my legs stronger and would touch my vagina while he opened and closed my thighs.
During and after the sexual assaults and/or violations, he would tell me that this was a special thing that he only did to me and that it was a secret that I should not discuss with anybody.
He seemed untouchable. I felt ashamed and lived with this. I did not know how to talk about it, but now I have shed those shackles of shame.
As parents, we need to give our children an awareness and create a safe environment where they can talk about anything, and be believed.
Paul Diamond, 43, Johannesburg
I was best friends with George [Rosenberg, 43, and
living in Hawaii], and Sidney Frankel was a cousin to George and his sister, Kate.
He frequented George’s house as his parents resided across the road.
He would enter the bathroom and play with us in the bath while touching our penises.
He would move his hand over our penises and pretend to squirt water while touching our penises.
He would pretend that his actions were completely normal and there was nothing wrong with this.
It was not always George and me, sometimes George was alone.
Once at the game farm Frankel took a plastic 2-litre Coca-Cola bottle and lined the inside opening with Vaseline and made us put our penises inside the bottle and move them in and out of the bottle.
At all times he told us what he did to us was a secret and never to discuss this with anyone as he was our friend and it was a private matter between us.
He would discuss his extramarital affairs with us.
Katherine Rosenberg, 40, Cape Town
I remember that Frankel would put his hand between my legs and lift me up.
He would get me to sit on his lap in the car and touch me between my legs.
As far back as I remember I would experience a strange, horrible sensation in my body.
The best way to describe it is as if my body was being invaded. It made me feel terribly vulnerable.
Approximately 11 years ago, Sidney acknowledged what he did to me in person.
He told me he was going to a therapist and was advised to confront those he molested and ask for forgiveness.
I remember being surprised by his confession. It was such a shock to hear him speak about, and admit to me, what he did.
Daniela McNally, resident in Chicago, US
I used to ride horses with Lisa Wegner from about nine to 15 years old.
Frankel would wait for me to become separated from the group during outrides, whereafter he would ride close to me and start talking to me about sex and masturbation.
He would put his hands be- tween my legs and push hard on and into my vagina while asking me whether I liked what he was doing.
After the outrides, when putting the horses away, he would corner me when no one else was present in the stables, shoving his hands down the front of the my pants and between my legs.
During these sexual assaults he would push hard on my vagina, penetrating it with his fingers.
I felt extremely embarrassed, uncomfortable, uneasy, scared, dirty, guilty, ashamed and humiliated.
Lisa Wegner, 50, Cape Town
When I was eight my family moved to Kyalami, next to Frankel’s farm.
I was invited to the farm by Frankel to learn how to ride horses when I was eight years old and he was about 25 years old.
He gave me an old, ill horse called Francestown to look after and ride which led to me going to the stables on the farm twice or more a day to ride, feed and groom the horse.
He would regularly hug and fondle me in the stables or in the steel lock-up saddle room.
Usually when no one else was present, he would stand behind me and hug me.
He would hold me so tight I could not get away.
He would nuzzle my neck, whereafter he would press on or rub the my pubic area with his and press his body up against my back.
During these assaults I could only see his black hairy forearms and his watch.
His breathing would become noisy and fast and his body would shake, whereafter he would let me go.
During these sexual assaults in the stable, he would speak to me, saying: “Doesn’t this feel good? Doesn’t this feel nice? You like it, don’t you?”
On one occasion, he drove me from the farm to the local cafe to buy Easter eggs.
As soon as he drove away in the car, he started rubbing my pubic and genital area, stimulating and penetrating my vagina with his fingers.
Once when I was spending the night at his place of residence in Abbotsford, in order to travel to the game farm the next day, I was lying in a single bed when he entered the room.
He lay down behind me, hugged me and rubbed my pubic and genital area, stimulating and penetrating my vagina with his fingers.
On another occasion at his game farm he rubbed Vaseline into my genitals “to keep the ticks away”.
On many occasions, on horse outrides he took my hand and placed it on top of his penis which felt big and hard and he held my hand there.
This was always extremely embarrassing and made me feel uncomfortable, dirty and ashamed.
He would incessantly and intrusively speak to me about sex whenever he had an opportunity to do so.
These sexual acts were committed from [when I was] about eight to about 13 or 14 years old.
Shane Rothquel, 38, Johannesburg
I was in the care of the Arcadia Jewish Children’s Home in Parktown from 1989 to 1991, where I was sexually abused by Frankel.
[He] had close contact with the children and at the time of my care there were at least 30 to 50 children in the care of Arcadia.
Frankel approached me when I was alone and playing, after swimming.
He asked me to lower my swimming costume and touched and rubbed my penis until it was erect. The incident occurred in the main building of Arcadia.
On another occasion, Frankel approached me again in the main building and proceeded again to have me lower my trousers.
He touched and rubbed my penis until it was again erect.
I was first abused when I was three or four years old [by another person].
I responded to these experiences of abuse in a nonchalant manner, burying not the memories of sexual abuse but rather the emotional impact.
A blunted, emotionless and highly intellectual response to these memories has essentially ruled most of my life.
The current allegations regarding Frankel have opened wounds that I believed were on the way to proper closing but now must be reopened to ensure that they are properly confronted, dealt with and complete and full closure achieved.