Sex-video principal escapes jail time

The former crèche owner and principal who ordered two children to have sex and recorded it will not go to prison.

The woman, who is not being named to protect the identities of the children involved, will be registered as a sex offender after she pleaded guilty to a charge of compelled rape at the Alexandra Magistrate's Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

In a statement read by her attorney, Phumlani Ntuli, the woman said on the day of the incident in February last year, she arrived back at the crèche after a meeting and a teacher told her that two children had been found having sexual relations in a toilet on the premises.

The principal called the boy, then 2, and the girl, then 5, to her office and asked them, in front of other teachers, to undress and re-enact what they had done. She said she asked her granddaughter to record the demonstration.

“There was no actual penetration, it was a simulation?” asked Magistrate Gideon Schnetler.

Prosecutor Jacqui Letsoalo confirmed that penetration did not happen.

The principal showed the video to the parents of both children and told them that their children were not welcome at the Johannesburg crèche anymore.

The girl's parents were upset that she had asked their daughter to simulate what she had allegedly done and they complained to the police.

Ntuli asked the court to be lenient on the woman, who is turning 70 later this year. He said she is remorseful and did not have any previous convictions.

After finding her guilty, Schnetler said: “She should have known better than to instruct two minor kids who were under her care to perform a sexual act.”

Schnetler said he could see that the accused did not know what to do when she found out what the children had done. He also saw that she “didn't want to do it [order the demonstration and record it] out of lust or anything like that”.

In accordance with an agreement reached between the principal, the prosecution and the children's parents, she was given a prison sentence of five years but it was entirely suspended for three years.

The conditions for the sentence included that she will be listed in the National Register for Sex Offenders and she may not work with children again.

The court confirmed that the crèche has been closed down since the incident.

After proceedings, the principal's granddaughter said the woman suffered from Alzheimer's disease and dementia which has worsened since her arrest and she would be unable to speak to the media.