WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-10-30 Time: 21:00:10 Posted By: Jan
By Lavern de Vries
Just 24 hours before a man abducted six boys from a primary school in Walmer Estate, another primary school pupil fell victim to a child predator, who gained access to the school grounds, raped her in the toilet during school hours and walked away, it has now been learnt.
Along with the rape of an eight-year-old girl walking home from school a few days ago and the stabbing of two Garlandale High School pupils on Wednesday, the incidents have highlighted the dangers facing schoolchildren.
Mitchells Plain police spokesperson Captain Harry Brickles on Wednesday confirmed that the 12-year-old had been raped on the premises of Hillside Primary in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, last Thursday.
| ‘We were called to the scene much later, which made the investigation much harder’ |
The principal had called the police hours after the incident.
“We were called to the scene much later, which made the investigation much harder,” he said.
Sources close to the investigation said the principal, a Mr Meyer, had first called the Western Cape Education Department and contacted police four hours later.
When the Cape Argus contacted the principal on Wednesday, he refused to comment, referring the newspaper to the WCED.
The girl’s father, who sounded very upset, declined to talk to the media.
| ‘We must have mechanisms in place to protect children’ |
Other sources said the school did not have Bambanani security and had been forced to fire a security guard due to a lack of funds.
WCED spokesperson Paddy Attwell said on Thursday morning that the school principal had not followed normal procedure as he had contacted the department’s district and not the WCED’s Safe Schools division, which provides a contact point for schools to report crime and for pupils to seek support in cases of abuse.
“The Safe Schools is probing how and when the school reported the incident …we understand that the school contacted the district and not Safe Schools.”
Attwell urged schools to report any crimes to police first and then to contact the Safe Schools initiative.
“We believe that police must be the first on a scene.”
Meanwhile, Safe Schools has arranged additional security at the school and will assist the school in reviewing procedures, for example, monitoring toilets.
“We also ask the community to get involved, as they are elsewhere, for example, where parents volunteer to monitor toilets and access points.”
In yet another school incident, two Garlandale High pupils were stabbed on Wednesday in what appeared to be a fight with a gang of other pupils on the school premises.
According to one of the pupils, who wants to remain anonymous, a group of boys had allegedly tried to rob one of the pupils during the first break but had been unsuccessful.
During the second break, the alleged gang, who are in Grades 9 and 10, had confronted the boy again and tripped him to the floor.
He had called his friends to help him.
Although Athlone police could not confirm the incident, two boys are believed to have been stabbed in the chest by the gang members, probably with a screwdriver.
The school principal was not available for comment and Attwell said they would inquire about the stabbing.
Last week a Grade 10 learner at Durbanville High was stabbed in the buttocks, reportedly during a fight about a girl.
In a separate, unrelated incident, Brickles said, a 19-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape of an eight-year-old girl from Mit-chell Heights Primary School, also in Mitchells Plain.
“The girl was with a group of friends on their way to get a train home when she was lured away by a man who allegedly took her to a house and raped her,” he said. The incident also happened last week.
Attwell said the WCED was not aware of the rape but expressed concern at the spate of incidents of violence at schools, adding that the department would investigate all reported cases.
Meanwhile, the Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (Rapcan) organisation spokeswoman Sam Waterhouse said yesterday that research had shown schools are among the most dangerous places for children, and school toilets lent themselves to sexual violence and assaults.
“We must have mechanisms in place to protect children. More Bambananis might prevent the crime but it won’t stop it, it might just help displace the rapes to other areas outside the school.”
Waterhouse said school officials were not clear about the procedures involving rape and many opted to call the department before calling the police. “Educators must realise that rape is not an internal issue, it is a crime.”
Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum spokesman Michael Jacobs urged residents to call police immediately to report any type of crime as a quick response could ensure a speedy investigation and possibly an arrest.
The man suspected of raping the 12-year-old is still at large.
Statistics reveal that about 52 000 children were raped in South Africa alone last year, while nearly 50% of all indecent assault offences, including anal and oral rape, were committed against children.
According to a national school violence study conducted by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention last year, one in five pupils interviewed reported being a victim of some form of violence within their schools in the 12 months preceding the study.
More than a tenth (12,8 percent) of all the children surveyed reported having been threatened with violence at school in the 12-month period prior to being interviewed.
Threats of violence, robbery and sexual assault were highest among secondary school pupild while physical assaults were most frequently reported by the primary school learners canvassed for the study.
Additional reporting by Luleka Damane