Cameras stop visits to coach

AXED: CHARGES INCLUDE RAPE, SEXUAL HARASSMENT

As a professional, I found it inappropriate

Colleague had concerns the young woman slept over at his house.

Months before a former high school netball coach was officially charged with raping and molesting one of his star players, his “inappropriate” behaviour was already raising red flags among his peers.

Because of this, cameras had been installed outside his office, Nadia Johnson – then head of netball at the school – told the Alexandra Regional Court.

“Our principal received [complaints] from numerous female staff members concerned about the frequency of girls visiting his office,” she explained.

Johnson yesterday became the third witness to take the stand in Aleshan Moodley’s trial, which finally started on Monday following a series of delays.

Moodley pleaded not guilty. The allegations against Moodley first came to the fore in 2019.

He was, at the time, working at Bryanston High School but after a disciplinary panel found him guilty of sexual harassment and financial mismanagement, he was axed.

He is now also facing criminal charges, including rape, sexual and common assault.

The now 19-year-old woman he is accused of having abused over several years, from when she was 11 until she was 16, was the first to take the stand on Monday.

She was followed by her mother and then Johnson who, yesterday, recounted being “extremely shocked” after the then 17-yearold first confided in her about what was going on.

Asked by public prosecutor Jackie Mashaba if she had observed anything inappropriate about their relationship, Johnson replied: “I would say as a professional, I found it inappropriate.

“I questioned the familiarity,” she said, adding it was public knowledge that the young woman used to sleep over at Moodley’s house on occasion.

Johnson said when she had raised this with Moodley, “I was told he was stepping up as a parental figure for her. I assumed they were family friends”.

She said Moodley was “quite blatant” about calling the defendant and other girls and boys out of class at odd times. So, a decision was taken to install cameras outside his office, after which, the behaviour stopped.

The case resumes next month.