The father of two children who named a teacher at their school as their rapist has expressed outrage at the suggestion that the attacks may instead have been carried out in the family home and accuses the police of dragging their feet in solving the case.
The father of two children who named a teacher at their school as their rapist has expressed outrage at the suggestion that the attacks may instead have been carried out in the family home and accuses the police of dragging their feet in solving the case.
After the rapes were reported following the Easter school holidays, a teacher at the Grahamstown school was suspended and a caretaker arrested. It was claimed that the rapes of the children, a six-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister, had taken place in the school's toilets.
The caretaker was released after submitting DNA samples and according to an education department source the teacher's precautionary suspension has been lifted. The teacher was suspended three weeks after the girl's rape was reported, after a group of parents, community members and activists protested outside the school.
The education department source told Grocott's Mail this week that the teacher was expected to return to work at the beginning of the coming term. "The social worker is convinced that it’s me who raped my kids," the children's father told Grocott's Mail this week.
"I told the police a long time ago to investigate me, but they refused." He said the police had ignored the family's enquiries and that no one had updated them about progress in the investigation. The family had only been warned off talking to the media, he said, with police saying that this would further delay the investigation.
"The last time we received some information was when an official from the department of education came to our home and told us that the police had not investigated the [teacher alleged to have carried out the attacks]," he said.
The official said the teacher only received the letter of suspension from the education department and there was no statement taken by the police, the children's father said.
Replying to emailed questions this week, Eastern Cape police spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci said at this stage there were no new developments in the case. "As soon as there’s any progress we will let you know," he said.
