Parktown sex fiend nailed
Coach convicted but parents are still gunning for other teachers
AS THE Parktown Boys’ High School sex pest avoids conviction on 171 criminal charges, the parents of the complainants have made their anger and sadness known, with one going so far as to publicly confront Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
Yesterday, at the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge, former water polo coach Collan Rex was found guilty of 144 charges of sexual assault and a further 12 of common assault for his conduct against more than a dozen pupils.
However, some of the parents who spoke to the Saturday Star yesterday said they were deeply disappointed that the 22-year-old was able to avoid the rape, attempted murder, grooming and exposure of a child to pornography charges.
“To call our boys liars, our legal system is so flawed. I feel the court didn’t see the whole picture,” one source linked to the case said yesterday. “I believe (Rex) is a product of the school. I don’t think he needs to serve 35 years in prison, but these boys need justice.”
One parent at the proceedings confronted Lesufi outside the court, demanding to know why the Education Department had failed to deal with another teacher at the school, Remo Murabito, who was found to have been involved in multiple incidents of misconduct.
Numerous teachers at the school have been accused of victimising pupils involved in the Rex matter, racism, physical assault, perpetuating a violent initiation culture and a code of silence that prevented pupils from coming forward about abuse.
Two independent law firm probes found evidence against teachers at the school, resulting in four resignations, and resulted in two teachers being transferred to the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) district offices.
However, during his confrontation with Lesufi outside the court, the parent insisted the department had failed to suspend or deal with Murabito, who was charged with assaulting a pupil earlier this year, and found in the reports to have encouraged initiation practices at the school. Lesufi said he believed Murabito was employed under the Parktown School Governing Body, despite earlier confirmations that he was a GDE employee.
Last week, the Saturday Star reported that, almost half-a-year after the assault charge was laid, his disciplinary hearing had yet to be concluded. However, Lesufi said he would investigate the allegations.
The MEC also confirmed allegations that Nik Muiznieks, another former teacher whose aggressive, sexual and racist rant was exposed in the Saturday Star earlier this year, had already been hired at another school. The Saturday Star is in possession of a purported recording in which Muiznieks labelled learners who came forward about the victimisation as “snitches” and “evil”. In the alleged 45-minute rant, Muiznieks threatens to blow up the boarding house where some of the alleged victims reside, chop off their heads, and then calls an Indian pupil “Isis”, and asks him where he can buy explosives.
His rant also addresses one of the abuse victims, telling him not to be offended. “Some Parktown Boys are monkeys and this is not a racial statement – there are black monkeys and white monkeys,” he also said.
Another two teachers at Parktown Boys, Etienne le Roux and James Furlonge, were due to continue their disciplinary hearings on Thursday, but Lesufi said parents were concerned that only the charges from the first report were being heard at the disciplinary hearing, preventing the hearing from going ahead. However, he insisted that another disciplinary would be instituted to interrogate the other charges stemming from the second report.
I don’t believe that he needs to serve 25 years, but the boys need justice. SOURCE Linked to case
THE Parktown Boys’ High molester had no reason to lie. Collan Rex had already confessed to 144 incidents of sexual assault, admitted to choking and wrestling with his pupils and had owned up to his actions.
This was the opinion of Acting Judge Peet Johnson, who yesterday at the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge acquitted Rex on 177 other charges.
While most of the 23 complainants told the court similar stories of how Rex would grab their genitals, dry hump them, place them in chokeholds during unofficial wrestling matches and try to dominate them physically, the Judge believed at least 10 of the pupils had provided weak testimony or fabricated oral evidence.
Among these pupils was the then 15-year-old who claimed Rex had tried to put his finger into his anus on multiple occasions, and succeeded during one attempt, resulting in the single rape charge against Rex.
Judge Johnson believed that because the pupil had used the word “bum” instead of “anus” in his police statement, this was clearly a contradiction in his testimony. The idea that Rex’s finger had managed to penetrate the pupil’s underwear and shorts was also an indication that the version of events was untrue.
Another boy, who claimed Rex had forced oral sex on him, had his testimony all but thrown out because he failed to testify about another incident where he claimed Rex had allegedly hit him with a broom handle, and another where the coach had allegedly showed him pornography. During this part of the Judge’s ruling, the mother of the child left the court, teary-eyed.
The Judge was particularly harsh on the fact that pupils could not remember the exact number of times Rex had grabbed their genitals or tried to choke them, as some had been asked to estimate the number of incidents and had contradicted the numbers mentioned in each of their police statements.
Prosecutor Arveena Persad insisted during her closing arguments that the sheer number of attacks meant it was nearly impossible for each of the teenage complainants to remember the specifics of every incident – which allegedly occurred on a weekly basis.
Because of this, the Judge ultimately dropped all but 12 of the charges that Rex had not already admitted to.
The 22-year-old former coach had been charged with 110 counts of attempted murder, stemming from dozens of incidents of “wrestling” where the pupils would be caught in chokeholds, unable to breathe. The judge found there had been no intent to kill, and instead found Rex guilty of 12 counts of common assault.
Because Rex had already admitted to the first 144 charges of sexual assault, the Judge said he had no reason to lie, and therefore he had no option but to give the benefit of the doubt to the accused.
Parents of the complainants, even those whose testimony was found to be credible, told the Saturday Star they were put off by the ruling.
“I’m disappointed with how it was handled. Throughout the trial, the judge was rushing. He gave his ruling half-an-hour after closing arguments. How did he make an informed decision? He had obviously already made his decision,” one parent said.
“It felt disrespectful. He painted all the boys with the same brush.” Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said he had mixed emotions about the ruling – glad that a guilty verdict had been reached on so many charges, but saddened that the pupils had to go through a difficult trial process.
The sentencing proceedings for the 156 charges will continue next week.