The Department of Education in the Eastern Cape has been ordered to compensate a former learner of the Susannah Fourie Primary School in Kariega with R5 million after she was brutally raped on school premises.
The learner's father dragged the department to court on behalf of his daughter, who cannot be named because she is a minor, after the May 2016 incident.
The girl and her father were represented by Lessing Heyns & Van der Bank Attorneys Inc.
The incident had left the learner physically and mentally injured and she still suffers from emotional trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, panic disorders, and tension headaches.
According to court documents, the girl attended an activity that took place in the girl's bathroom, dubbed "Ghost House" on 4 May 2016.
As part of the activity the windows in the bathroom were covered with black plastic bags to block out natural light and the school supplied several male learners with masks that covered their faces.
The male learners who brandished the masks were instructed to scare and frighten other learners who accessed the girl's bathroom.
An educator and several other learners were posted outside of the bathroom to collect an entrance fee at the door.
At some point during the activity the teacher left, which meant that the learners were running the show.
Court documents outline how two unidentified mask-wearing males grabbed the girl, "wrestled her to the floor" and dragged her into one of the toilet cubicles where she was "brutally raped".
Her attackers fled when a female learner managed to kick down the door of the cubicle.
The girl reported the rape to the Headmaster immediately afterwards and the police were called in.
She was however unable to identify her attackers because they wore masks and the bathroom was dark.
The court found that the department was negligent and breached its legal duty of care by failing to ensure a safe and secure environment for the child during school hours, failing to adequately supervise the learners and the activity, and failing to take reasonable steps to prevent harm to the child.
The teachers were negligent in that they organised an activity which by its nature is "unsafe" and whereby male and female learners were allowed to be present behind closed doors in a dark, confined space without any supervision.
The department did also not take reasonable steps to preserve and protect the bodily integrity, psychological well-being, mental tranquillity, and dignity of the learner's mind.
"The aforementioned rape of the minor child therefore took place as a direct result of the unlawful and negligent breach of the legal duty of care by the Defendant's employees," said the plaintiffs in their particulars of claim.
After the rape, the girl had to move schools and suffered prejudice as her studies were interrupted.
She has been underachieving at school since the rape, continues to experience learning difficulties, and attempted to commit suicide twice.
In addition to the girl being awarded R5 million, the department has been ordered to pay the cost of the lawsuit, wasted costs due to the postponement of the trial on 7 March 2023, the costs of two counsel, and the fees of expert witnesses.
