Independent Newspapers
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Durban – One of the girls who accused a South Coast principal of rape and sexually assaulting her and fellow pupils began testifying in camera in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Journalists, her relatives, the principal’s supporters and the children’s rights organisation Operation BobbiBear were not allowed in court when she told her story before magistrate V Dube.
The girl, according to the state prosecutor Pratisha Jugnundan, wanted Operation BobbiBear in court when she testified, but defence attorney Anand Nepaul objected.
The 44-year-old principal was arrested at a primary school in November last year after a group of girls approached police officers who were visiting their school on an outreach programme.
They said the man had lured them into his office to clean, or on the pretext that he would give them extra lessons, and molested them.
But he has maintained his innocence, saying the children who filed the charges against him were being used by their teachers and parents in a “smear campaign” to discredit him and oust him from his post.
On Wednesday, at least seven police officers were inside the court while two stood guard at the door to keep a crowd of the man’s angry supporters at bay.
The frustrated supporters were in and out of the court building, pleading for updates from the officers – who left the courtroom when the proceedings were postponed for an hour for lunch.
“We will sleep in this court if we have to. We are not going anywhere until he is out,” one man shouted after lunch as attorneys and police officers walked back inside.
In the afternoon, the teary-eyed child was escorted back into the children’s room.
It is understood that she became emotional when she faced her former principal, and cried during her testimony.
She is expected to continue on Thursday after which three more witnesses are expected to testify.
The man’s supporters, led by his wife, mobbed Nepaul after the proceedings.
Nepaul confirmed outside court that the charge sheet had been amended and that the number of charges his client was facing had risen to 10.
After the man’s arrest the girls were placed in protective custody to prevent them from being intimidated. It is not known if they are still being cared for by the authorities, or if they are at home with their parents.
The Mercury
