Teacher fired after allegedly exposing granddaughter to porn

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The Wittedrift High School teacher, who allegedly sexually assaulted his six-year-old granddaughter while exposing her to pornography, is no longer teaching at the school.

The 64-year-old was arrested in December last year after an incident at a house in Monument Street in Wittedrift just outside Plettenberg Bay in August 2012.

"The school has been in contact with the department of education since the matter has come to our attention and their advice and support has been tremendous. It must be borne in mind that we can only act within the parameters the law affords us and all the while we have and will continue to act in the best interest of the school. We have given our learners, parents, fellow educators and the department our undertaking to continually monitor the situation and take action as and when afforded to us by law. As a result we can state that the teacher in question is no longer at the school," Principal Jeremy Marallich said.

He further said the identity of the teacher had not been announced by the school or the media in an effort to protect the identity of the minor child and alleged victim. "We did urge people against making wild speculation in an effort to safeguard our community against any possible claims."

Marallich reiterated that the alleged offence fell outside the scope of the teacher's employment and that he had had no complaints against him regarding similar incidents over the 10 years he had been employed. "The alleged offence does not involve a learner or colleague at the school or any other school for that matter."

According to police the man, while allegedly showing the young girl pornography, told her to touch his private parts. He was arrested on December 15 last year and briefly appeared in the Plettenberg Bay Magistrate's Court on charges of sexual assault and exposure or display of pornography to a person under 18. His next court appearance is on April 16 this year.

Western Cape Education Department spokesman Paddy Attwell said the department viewed any allegation of sexual misconduct by a teacher in "an extremely serious light".

"The department would usually [following such claims] review the employment of any teacher found guilty of sexual molestation in a criminal case, regardless of whether the incident happened inside or outside the school. Bail conditions set by the courts normally bar the accused from contact with children while the case is underway. This would prevent a teacher from returning to work if a teacher is involved," Attwell said.

"The Wittedrift teacher is an employee of the school governing body (SGB) and not of the department. The SGB is taking legal advice."

"Our district office is working closely with the school to help resolve the matter."