Durban — Two years after the arrest of a high school teacher facing six counts of rape, his disciplinary hearing was yet to be concluded.
The 55-year-old man who had been employed at a Clermont high school since 2008 told the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court, on Friday, that the continuation of his hearing had been set down to be heard for one week this month.
He is alleged to have performed sexual acts with three pupils all aged 17 in 2021 on the school premises and he was arrested in April of 2022.
The matter on Friday was on the court’s roll for trial dates to be set – the court’s third attempt at setting trial dates in the case.
On the last two occasions, trial dates could not be set as the accused’s defence, advocate Andile Thusi, was not in court.
Twice in June, Thusi sent other lawyers to the court to stand in for him, asking for a postponement before magistrate Siphiwe Hlophe. The first time he was unwell, and the second time he had been in a car crash.
After this it was postponed to Friday, July 12, for Thusi to present himself before the court to set new trial dates.
When the accused was still represented by attorney K Jairam, trial dates were set in October last year: October 3-6. On those dates, it did not go ahead because Jairam withdrew as attorney.
The matter was again postponed after Thusi had placed himself on record as counsel, to give him time to consult and familiarise himself with the case.
Following that, April 3-5 this year, as well as May 6-10, were set for the trial, however when those dates came, Thusi was unavailable.
On Friday Thusi was in court and he informed magistrate Hlophe that he was ready for trial. Hlophe then transferred the matter from Regional Court 3 to 4.
“The matter is transferred forthwith to RC4 for trial dates to be set before magistrate Cele. We are transferring it there because Cele has no roll and we are trying to give him cases, not that I don’t want to deal with the trial. It was decided that all cases where the accused are represented by private attorneys would be transferred to RC4 and I would deal with those that are represented by Legal Aid here in RC3,” said Hlophe.
The accused’s case was called out in RC4 after teatime and by then, Thusi was not in court building.
After the accused walked into the dock with no legal representative, magistrate T Cele asked that the accused phone Thusi.
“I have phoned three times, it rings and goes straight to voicemail,” said the teacher.
When asked whether Thusi had indicated which dates would suit him for trial, the accused said they had discussed a date in September as his disciplinary hearing needed to be finalised.
A provisional date was set for later this month for Thusi to present himself to the court for a trial date to be set.
According to the State, the complainants in the matter were all 18 years and older now.
Following his arrest in April 2022, the accused was granted bail of R5 000 with conditions that he relocate from the jurisdiction of Pinetown.
His bail was granted in the district court and he made numerous appearances in that court before his matter was deemed trial-ready following the completion of investigations, and moved to the regional court which is the trial court.
During his bail application in the district court, it had emerged that there was a possibility of more victims coming forward. However, as it stands, there were still only three complainants in the matter.
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