To think that an eight-year-old boy could have been spared the torturous betrayal and abuse allegedly at the hands of his friend’s father, the last person he saw as he took his final breath, if only our justice system worked effectively and efficiently, is equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating.
That’s because the man accused of raping and murdering his son’s eight-year-old friend during a sleepover last month was a previous offender who “checked himself out” of a rehabilitation programme 18 years ago.
As his then 20-year-old victim told The Sunday Times at the weekend, no-one informed her the man who allegedly spiked her drink and raped her, checked himself out of a state criminal “diversion programme” after admitting to raping her. The alleged attack took place in Kraaifontein, the same area where he allegedly raped and murdered eight-year-old Daniël Jamneck on June 15.
The 47-year-old man escaped a sentence and then went on to ingratiate himself as a member of one of Cape Town’s biggest neighbourhood watches, essentially projecting himself as a trusted neighbour concerned with the safety and wellbeing of his community.
The woman who said she was shocked “because nobody wanted to believe me” about her drink being spiked at the dance club in Stikland in 2005, leading to the rape, had to relive the nightmare after learning her attacker had been arrested for Daniël’s rape and murder.
It is no doubt the same betrayal, fear and anger shared by the two young boys who have named North West dominee Adriaan Swart, 48, a reverend of the Afrikaans Protestant Church, as their abuser.
Swart is standing trial for allegedly performing sex acts on the boys, initially aged 14, and compelling them to appear in child pornography that was found on his phone. The boys, many years apart, attended Laerskool Sanddrift, the farm school of which the reverend’s wife, co-accused Lizette Swart, 52, is still headmistress. The couple deny all charges and pleaded not guilty in the Pretoria high court.
The parallels in these two stories of abuse are sickeningly similar in terms of the abuse of trust.
Our justice system has cracks which often fails victims and the horror stories of abuse at the hands of teachers, lecturers and others who prey on the young minds are overwhelming.
According to his charge sheet, Swart allegedly: masturbated a boy in around 2014; forced the boy to do the same to him, maintaining the abusive relationship for much of his high school career; attempted to rape the naked boy; and then, in recent years, masturbated another boy and forced him to reciprocate; used both boys for the production of child pornography; possessed sexual material promoting the exploitation of children; and was found in possession of child exploitation material.
As the trial began in Pretoria last month, the Swarts’s legal team tried to block the devices’ inclusion as evidence. But judge Selemeng Mokose dismissed their application.
Lizette is charged with “willingly and knowingly” allowing her husband’s abuse of two boys, who both attended her school. The court heard testimony last month that the first complainant told her at least three times in two years that her husband was abusing him. He and the second boy met Adriaan while she was their teacher.
The charge sheet also states that she “intentionally and knowingly permitted the commission of a sexual act” by Adriaan and took no steps to report the alleged abuse. Instead, she allegedly pressured the boy to keep quiet about it, an offence in terms of the Sexual Offences Act, the Children’s Act and the Criminal Procedure Act.
The two were regarded as pillars of society and like the neighbourhood watch guy, stand accused of the ultimate betrayal of innocent young children.
After his arrest and release on bail, Swart formed a WhatsApp group for youth but later deleted it when questioned by media.
When Swart was first arrested, the Afrikaans Protestant Church suspended him “to protect the glory of God, as well as act to the salvation of the parish (and church) and preservation of the sinner (the accused)”.
It said the reverend couldn’t stay in his job with such a serious charge hanging over his head and that for him to remain in his position would signify it didn’t view the charges seriously and would seriously damage the reputation of the church.
But now it turns out the dominee is back at the pulpit with the blessings of some his parish.
A gloating voice note which bears striking resemblance to the dominee boasted about the support he has received from his parish.
“We have a very large support base, I’m still in my post full-time, our whole church council is behind us, my wife is school principal, the whole governing body of the school is behind her, so we have great support in our community,” the man says on the voice note.
The church, it seemed, defended Swart on two occasions saying that while it agreed a “child can be permanently damaged when he or she is the victim of an adult’s sick and perverse desires, but we know just as well that not even a judgment of ‘not guilty’ can remove the brand of ‘sexual predator’”, and that “you don’t torture people with an investigation that carries on for months and months and months”.
Just ask the now 38-year-old woman who has yet to receive justice for her abuse, or the two young boys about the expiration date of their torture.
Our justice system has cracks which often fails victims and the horror stories of abuse at the hands of teachers, lecturers and others who prey on the young minds are overwhelming.
For the sake of these two boys and the countless other victims out there, communities should be doing all they can to protect the innocent, not blindly put their faith in those who have damning evidence against them but trade on their devilish charm.
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