Categories: CourtsSouth Africa

Youth coach appears in court after allegedly raping 14-year-old boy

A 25-year-old youth development coach appeared Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 3 February on a charge of alleged rape, TimesLive reported.

The suspect, reportedly a youth coach for a KwaZulu-Natal based Premier Soccer League (PSL), allegedly drugged and raped a young boy after promising him that he could arrange for him to play for a PSL youth team.

READ MORE: Fake soccer coach arrested after alleged rape

In court, while reading the charges, Magistrate Gwendolyn Robinson said that the suspect could face a minimum sentence life of 25 years if he is found guilty.

The court heard the accused had other pending cases against him as well as a warrant of arrest in a separate incident.

The suspect was arrested last week Thursday by the Pinetown Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) officers.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the suspect had approached the victim last year in December and told him that he was soccer coach who was recruiting some young players.

It is alleged that the incident occurred in Kloof, where the 25-year-old man gave the young boy a mixture of medicinal substances to drink, drugging him, and then raped him.

The case was postponed to 11 February for further investigation.

The suspect will be remanded in custody and detained at the Pinetown police station until his next appearance.

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