A West Rand schoolteacher accused of raping a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint, who snubbed disciplinary action by refusing to attend a hearing, has been found guilty, fired and registered as a sex offender.
The teacher who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, when contacted by a Gauteng education department official on instruction of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), said he was not interested in attending an inquiry and had no interest in defending the allegations made against him by a 16-year-old girl.
He failed to attend the pre-hearing meeting, and when given a second chance, continued to ignore communications and declined to answer calls.
The child alleged that the teacher taught her isiZulu since grade 8 and she knew him well. However, when she was in grade 11 she claimed he attacked her, sexually assaulted her, raped her and threatened her at gunpoint at school in February this year.
When he declined to attend the inquiry against him at the ELRC last month, arbitrator Mmamahlola Gloria Rabyanyana noted it was “trite law that a party who chooses not to attend a hearing, does so at his or her own peril, and is precluded from later complaining about the outcome of the hearing”.
The hearing went ahead in his absence and was attended by the girl and her father.
Count one was that on February 13, he sexually assaulted the girl at the school where he was employed. He is alleged to have dragged her, undressed her, licked her body and genitals and then sexually penetrated her without her consent.
The second charge was that he had threatened her with a gun.
The third charge was that he “conducted himself in an improper, disgraceful and unacceptable manner” by sending the girl the following messages: “You bath?”, “Wearing what?”, “Pull it down”, “Open your legs wide open” and “Can I put my tongue in between your legs?”.
The girl told the hearing that she had met the teacher when he became her isiZulu teacher three years ago. They became close as they share the same surname, and he later introduced himself to her father. They became family friends, and she would refer to him as uncle.
She said when school opened this year, the teacher brought his own young daughter from KwaZulu-Natal tolive with him as she was starting high school. He asked her parents if she could come and live with him and his daughter. She lived with her mother, far from the school, and used public transport to get to school.
He said he wanted her to help him take care of his daughter. Her parents were initially hesitant to allow this, but he persisted and insisted until they agreed.
The father cried as he told how he had taken his child to the doctor and to report the case to the police. He wept as he spoke about his regret for allowing his child to stay with the teacher
The girl then moved in with him and his daughter into a house, with tenants in outside rooms. He laid down house rules, including that she was not allowed to call her parents unless he was present and she was not allowed to speak to the tenants.
On February 13, at about 11pm while she was studying, she alleged that the teacher sent her the inappropriate messages on WhatsApp. He then made her delete the messages, but she had managed to get screenshots of them before complying.
She went to bed in the same room as his daughter, who was already asleep.
She alleged he came into the room and dragged her to his room. She tried to fight him off, but he pulled out a gun, cocked it and pointed it at her. He told her he would shoot her if she didn’t stay quiet.
The girl claimed he took off her pyjamas and assaulted and then raped her. He ordered her not to tell anyone.
When he was finished, he told her to take a long bath and wash the pyjamas she had been wearing.
The following day, she contacted her parents and told them what had happened. They took her to the doctor, opened a rape case with the police and reported the matter to the school principal.
The girl’s father told the hearing that he had developed a relationship with the teacher and confirmed that he had allowed his daughter to stay with him as he lived at the school, and she could help him with his own daughter. He said he had been reluctant to accept the invitation, but the teacher had been persuasive.
He said on February 14, the girl had called him in tears, and told him she had run away from the teacher's house and was on her way to her mother’s house. He did not live with the mother and drove there to meet them. He said the girl showed him screenshots of the messages and told him that the teacher had raped her.
The father cried as he told how he had taken his child to the doctor and to report the case to the police. He wept as he spoke about his regret for allowing his child to stay with the teacher.
He said after the incident the girl’s mother had persistently tried to convince her not to pursue the rape charge and appeared to side with the teacher. He decided to take his daughter away to live with his sister.
He took over as the girl’s primary caregiver and changed her school.
A Gauteng education department representative told the hearing that the teacher's actions appeared to have been “like a hunting lion”. He had planned his actions before preying on the girl. It was believed that there may have been other victims that had not come forward, but he had been immediately suspended after the incident.
“Mr [name withheld] waived his right to state his case, challenge the employer’s witnesses, and mitigate the sanction if found guilty, by refusing and failing to attend this inquiry,” Rabyanyana said.
She described the WhatsApp messages as shameful conduct of an educator towards a learner, and found the evidence given by the girl and her father to be consistent with no contradictions.
In the absence of contrary testimony, she found the teacher to have been the author of the messages and found him guilty of raping the girl and threatening to shoot her.
“Shame and lack of defence certainly are behind his snubbing this inquiry,” she said.
Rabyanyana said Gauteng education had proven the case and the teacher had demonstrated “a lack of remorse for this appalling and heinous offence” and brazen disregard for the outcome.
She ordered that he be dismissed, registered as a sex offender in terms of the Children's Act and declared unsuitable to work with children. A criminal case is proceeding.
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