Alleged child sex offender Willem Breytenbach back in Cape Town court

Willem Breytenbach, who allegedly sexually abused and raped boys as young as 12 from 1983 to 2019, appeared in the Cape Town regional court on Tuesday.

The case was postponed to allow the dockets to be finalised and the defence lawyer, JC de Jager, time to consult Breytenbach.

Johannesburg author Deon Wiggett exposed the former teacher and Media24 journalist as an alleged sexual offender in a series of award-winning podcasts, co-published with News24 in November.

Wiggett has accused Breytenbach of raping him when he was a teenager in 1997. 

His experiences prompted him to track down fellow survivors of the alleged assaults and rapes, systematically investigating and documenting Breytenbach’s alleged predatory track record.

The accused, nicknamed “Bullfrog” by Wiggett, is charged with seven charges of indecent and/or sexual assault.

On Tuesday morning Breytenbach, dressed in an ill-fitting black suit and a black mask, waited in an isolated corridor away from Court H for the case to commence.

“Sorry, but I cannot comment,” he said when asked about the charges against him.

Before the brief appearance, De Jager said: “We received the charge sheet last night but have not received the particulars of all the dockets. We are waiting for the particulars of one docket.”

Breytenbach is out on bail of R50 000, staying with his mother in Reebok, a small town near Mossel Bay. He has to report to the police three times a week and was required to surrender his passport.

The alleged serial abuser was arrested at Reebok on December 3 and appeared in court two days later on three charges of sexual and/or indecent assault.

Wiggett’s investigative podcast series, My Only Story, and sensitive approach prompted other survivors to share their own stories of assault with him.

At last count, more than 40 men had told him about their experiences of alleged assault by Breytenbach. Seventeen of them were younger than 16 at the time.

The ex-teacher and journalist targeted boys at the schools where he taught and through a school newspaper project he ran while working at Media24.

Staff at his Cape Town companies, Lumico and Lightspeed Digital Media, also reported alleged sexual assaults.

The case was postponed to November 17.