'My son has a soft, soft heart'

Mom's ordeal as son faces rape charges

A DEVASTATED East London mother, whose teenage son is facing charges of raping his two young neighbours and sexually molesting a third, this week described her child as someone who “has a soft, soft heart and is very giving”.

And, in an exclusive interview with Weekend Post, the woman told of the “absolute shock” she had felt when the parents of her son’s alleged victims confronted her with the terrible accusations against him.

She said the charges and the ensuing court case had been “devastating” for her family whose lives had been put on hold while the criminal case against her son continued.

The teenager, who is now 18 but was 14 when the alleged abuse began, cannot be named because he was a minor at the time.

He is alleged to have repeatedly sexually assaulted the boys, whose backyards adjoined his own and who were aged 6 and 8 when the alleged abuse occurred.

He is also alleged to have sexually molested one of the boys’ sisters, who was just four at the time.

Forced to stop Matric

Looking composed and expressionless, the accused took the stand this week after pleading not guilty to seven counts, which included two counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and two counts of indecent assault.

The mother said the boy, a former Cambridge High School pupil, had been asked to leave Damelin earlier this year where he was studying for his matric.

“When they realised he was the boy in the newspaper, they asked him to leave and I don’t know that we’ll get him into any school now,” she said.

Describing the day in late January last year when her neighbour’s parents had come to her home and told her the children had accused her son of child abuse, she said she and her husband were “very concerned”.

“We’ve known those little boys (the alleged victims) for a long time so we were concerned for their welfare as well as that of our child because he was being accused of such terrible crimes.”

She described her son as a very social teenager who “loves hanging out with friends”.

“He looks like a tough guy, but he has a soft, soft heart and he is very giving.”

It is 100% worse than any mother could imagine

The woman said seeing her son in the dock had been an ordeal.

She has been accompanying him to court throughout the trial, which began in April and included harrowing graphic testimony by the two boys, now aged 10 and 11, of how they were allegedly sexually violated and at times threatened with the teen’s ninjutsu swords.

“It is 100% worse than any mother could imagine to see him up there and hear what people are saying about him. We feel like our whole lives are on hold until this is over.”

'Not true'

Taking the stand this week, the accused denied all the charges against him, saying he found it “strange and upsetting” that the boys had accused him of sexually abusing them.

“I’m hurt they would say things like that about me,” he said under questioning by advocate for the defence Terry Price.

Asked under cross-examination by state prosecutor Mlibo Thafeni what his reaction had been when the boys’ parents had confronted his parents about the abuse, he said he had “burst into tears and denied it”.

Asked where the children could have been exposed to sex or why they would have fabricated stories of the little sister being molested, he answered that he did not know, but added that he would have taken the same action as the alleged victim’s parents if he had been in their place.

“If I were in their shoes, I would have done the same thing, but the only problem is I didn’t do it.”

The accused’s older sister also testified in his defence this week, and insisted she was present at all times when the boys visited her brother to play Playstation or watch TV. She said the children were “like brothers” to her and the younger boy always slept with her when he stayed over. She said she felt sure he would have confided in her if her brother were molesting him.

Asked if she thought the child would lie about the abuse she said: “It shocks me that he would lie, yes.”

Asked if it would shock her that her brother would lie, she said: “It would devastate me. I believe my brother.

“I love him but I won’t stand here and lie for him.”

Victims show trauma

Clinical psychologist Karen Andrews told Magistrate Ignatius Kitching this week that after conducting mental-state examinations of the two boys she had concluded that their psychological symptoms were consistent with children who had been sexually abused.

The trial has been postponed to April 4.