21 August 2008
Parents at a prestigious southern suburbs school are threatening a revolt and criminal prosecution should an eight-year-old former pupil, expelled for allegedly sexually molesting other Boys, be allowed back into the school.
This is according to papers lodged at the Cape High Court which shows that a group of parents at the school are threatening to remove their children from the school if the young boy is allowed to return.
And one parent is considering laying criminal charges against the boy.
The boy, who cannot be identified, was placed in another school when the controversy started but his parents have now applied to have him re-enrolled.
A chronology of events attached to the court papers revealed that Minor D exhibited behavioural problems in 2006 when he was in grade R.
In grade one, he started to show aggressive behaviour and in grade two, while at the after-care-facility, the sex acts allegedly started, including sticking a stick into one boy's rectum.
The young boy was also accused of bullying other boys and using foul language.
He has been treated for Attention Deficit Disorder.
The school's governing body expelled the boy from the school after it emerged he had allegedly committed sexual acts during after-care and that he had involved other pupils in the "games" he suggested.
But the Department of Education refused to confirm the expulsion, prompting the governing body to take the matter to the Cape High Court.
It asked the court to review and set aside the department's decision.
Now, according to papers filed by the school's governing body, the parents of pupils involved in the alleged sex acts have threatened to remove their children from the school if the boy returned.
They say his presence at the school will be too traumatic for their children.
One mother has changed her working hours in order to fetch her son after school so he will not have to stay at the after-care facility.
"Expulsion would at least serve the purpose of sparing these two victims the trauma," the governing body chairperson said in the papers.
At the end of May the boy's parents withdrew him from the school and sent him to another institution but now they have asked that he be re-enrolled.
But the school responded that the application for re-enrolment could not be considered until the court application had been finalised.
One of the parents wrote a letter to the school on July 22, in which she demanded an investigation into the alleged sex acts if the boy was allowed to return to the school.
She said she was investigating the possibility of laying criminal charges against the boy.
The department has defended its decision, saying the expulsion would have a harsh effect on the boy and he might also experience trauma if he had to attend another school.
Department head Ron Swartz said an investigation was necessary.
He said it appeared there had been other sexual incidents among pupils which did not involve Minor D and it would be inappropriate to single him out without conducting a full investigation.
The application is expected to be heard on October 16.
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