Teen allegedly assaulted by convicted UK sex offender seeks justice

A 50-year-old man placed on a sexual offenders file in Britain after being convicted of involvement in child pornography, is now in court in South Africa after allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl.

The man’s latest alleged victim is determined to seek justice and is supported by her mother in this quest, who took it upon herself to investigate the matter after receiving little support from the authorities, she claimed.

The alleged assault took place during a sleepover the teenager had with a friend, at a house where the accused shared accommodation with the friend’s mother.

The man, who appeared in court in Kempton Park on Tuesday, was sentenced in 2013 in Britain for the possession of pornographic material involving minors, as well as implicated in the production of materials showing children performing sexual acts.

According to the clerk of the court in the UK, the man was to be placed on the sex offender’s register for a decade and prohibited from working with children.

He received several suspended sentences but had to perform 150 hours of community service.

According to an affidavit by a former partner, seen by The Citizen, the man was also accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl two years prior to his arrest.

The victim shared her horrific experience of the sleepover: “We watched a movie, my friend’s mother had already gone to bed, and we fell asleep early in the film. I was sleeping on a beanbag next to the couch with the suspect lying on the floor next to me.”

Around midnight, she said, she went to the bathroom. The man was awake, pulled a blanket over her and told her to go back to sleep. It was not long before she felt his hand grab her arm, holding it tightly.

“He then slowly moved his hands beneath my bikini top and towards my bikini pants. He ran his hands slowly down my body and eventually, slipped it inside my bottoms.”

She said she pretended to be sleeping but was in fact praying hard for the ordeal to end. He then allegedly indecently assaulted her.

“I froze, I just wanted it to stop. I tried to keep my tears back.”

The 13-year-old said that as the alleged assault ended, the man brushed hair from her forehead, gave her a kiss, and went to bed.

Dressed in a sweater and shorts, the teenager looked like every other young girl on holiday, relaxed and with few cares in the world. But her body language gave away the discomfort and darkness of remembering the night in question.

Yet she persisted in telling her story bravely, despite reliving it again after filing reams of statements.

“I just want this to be over and done with now,” said the victim.

“But I want justice, too. He must end up behind bars and never have the opportunity to do this again, to anyone.”

She said that neither her friend nor the friend’s mom believed her at first. Both were unaware of the man’s dodgy past.

“My friend’s mom went to ask the man what was going on, and whatever he had said to her or how he reacted seemed to make what I was saying to her, real.”

“I called my mom, she came to fetch me immediately, and the next day we headed for the police station.”

The victim said that the police made them wait for hours that morning, took a lunch break, and only after that did the police eventually join the private security companies, who were holding the fort at the man’s house, to make the arrest.

The mother said: “You always read about this kind of thing, but you never think it would happen to you.”

The chair of the estate where the assault occurred, Simon Lapping, said that he was horrified.

“For this to happen, and for the rigmarole the family had to face when seeking support from the authorities, is an indictment of our broken system,” Lapping said.

“There’s just been no training, it seems, on how to appropriately deal with a situation like this.

“This is how people get away with disgusting behaviour and victims end up being shut up.”

– news@citizen.co.za