Charges mount against ex-Parktown Boys’ coach
A FORMER Parktown Boys’ High School water polo coach accused of preying on schoolboys has been slapped with over 100 more harrowing child abuse charges.
Seven more schoolboys who allegedly suffered gruesome sexual assault at the hands of the 22-year-old former water polo assistant coach at the prestigious Joburg school have come forward.
This emerged yesterday at the Palmridge Magistrate’s Court in Ekurhuleni, where the accused – who cannot be named until he has pleaded – is alleged to have been embroiled in a roughly two-year stint of molestation, rape and showing pornographic material to learners.
Many of the supposed crimes were allegedly committed on the school’s premises and on official school trips and events.
This has increased the number of complainants to 23 from 16, and the number of charges from 160 to 327.
The alleged child molester is facing more than 90 counts of sexual assault, one count of rape for allegedly inserting his fingers in a schoolboy’s anus, and dozens more charges of attempted murder.
The attempted murder charges relate to choking which the former coach allegedly did to learners during his supposed reign of terror.
The judge agreed to postpone the case to August 21 as the prosecutor, advocate Arveena Persad, said she and the defence team were still deliberating on a way forward.
The Star understands that the delays in the trial could be caused by the alleged paedophile, who, according to sources, is supposedly refusing to plead guilty to some of the alleged crimes.
The accused looked calm and unperturbed during his court appearance, sporting a grey-blue suit and light blue tie. He is currently out on bail. The alleged paedophilia scandal has opened a can of worms at the renowned boys’ high school, which caused Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi to launch an independent inquiry that unearthed a slew of sexual assault, racial misconduct and assault cases allegedly conducted by educators.
In a heated parents’ meeting, which took place in April and was convened by Lesufi, it was revealed that four teachers had allegedly been involved in rampant abuses, according to a report conducted by law firm Fasken Martineau.
Two of the educators were employed by the school’s governing body and have since been removed from the school, while the other two, according to the department, are facing disciplinary proceedings.
The independent probe found there were issues with the bar housed at the school’s boarding facility, where drunken behaviour was alleged to cause problems for some learners.
In March, a maths literacy teacher and the school’s sports director, Nik Muiznieks, was accused by schoolboys of secondary abuse after he allegedly told pupils who complained about the water polo coach’s supposed sexual violations that they were “evil” and “snitches”.
“Some Parktown boys are monkeys, and that is not a racial statement. There are black monkeys and white monkeys,” Muiznieks allegedly said.
He resigned in March after being confronted.
Lesufi encouraged pupils to speak out about abuses at school. “The culture of silence cannot be condoned. This culture has had a severe impact on learners who have suffered tremendously. We will intensify our efforts to root out this culture of silence at the school.”
@khayakoko88