Collette Julyan, one of our expert Attorneys, is currently involved in a case where a pupil who was sexually assaulted by an acting principal at the age of 12 is claiming R1.6m in damages from him and the Western Cape provincial education department.
Read more in the recent Sunday Times article below.
‘Sex pest’ headmaster faces R1,6m damages claim
A pupil who was sexually assaulted by an acting principal at the age of 12 is claiming R1.6m in damages from him and the Western Cape provincial education department. The South African Council for Educators (SACE), a regulatory body that falls under the purview of the department of basic education, last month found that Nolan Swanepoel, who was acting headmaster of Vleiplaas Primary School in Barrydale in the Western Cape at the time of the assault in 2011, guilty of ‘improper conduct in that he forcefully had sexual intercourse with a learner. In March, Western Cape High Court judge Mark Sher ruled in favour of the victim in a civil claim for damages that she and her mother brought against Swanepoel. Sher found that Swanepoel and the office of the Western Cape MC for education were liable, but the issue of quantum has yet to be settled.
Swanepoel’s lawyer, Charl May, told the Sunday Times this week that the former pupil, who is now 22, is claiming R65,000 for past and future medical expenses, R564,000 for loss of earnings and Rim for general damages, including pain and suffering Swanepoel lost his application for leave to appeal Sher’s judgment in April. On June 22 the Supreme Court of Appeal also dismissed an application for leave to appeal on the grounds that there was no reasonable prospect of success. The Western Cape education department did not appeal Sher’s ruling. Sher found that the department had been negligent in failing to vet the teacher, who conceded in court that he had a previous criminal conviction for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old while he was doing military service.
He deliberately lied about this conviction in his application for a teaching post at another primary school in July 2001. The requirement for teachers to produce a police clearance certificate before seeking registration with SACE only came into effect in 2018. Prior to that, provincial education departments had the responsibility of vetting teachers.
During the high court hearing, the former pupil testified that shortly after second break on a school day in September 2011 Swanepoel asked her to help him move boxes in his office.
According to Sher’s judgment, when she arrived at his office, he told her to go to the staff toilet in an adjacent building and followed her there. On entering the facility, he closed and locked the door and told her to remove her school trousers and panty and to lie down on the floor. “He then pulled his pants down and after putting on a condom, lay on top of her, pulled her legs apart and ‘raped’ her. When he was done, he gave her a wash rag which he always carried with him and told her to wipe herself. She then put her clothes back on and left the toilet.” Swanepoel was arrested on a rape charge shortly after the assault and made several appearances in the Swellendam regional court before the case was withdrawn on May 6 2013. According to the prosecutor, the child had not given him a “true account of events” Sher stated in his judgment that the complainant disputed this. “No particulars were provided as to what exactly she had allegedly said which was supposedly untrue.” Sher said it was not acceptable that those who commit such offences be allowed to get away with them. “In this regard I trust that the matter will also be referred to the director of public prosecutions, for the necessary action to be taken. At a disciplinary hearing for Swanepoel by the Western Cape education department in 2012, the presiding officer found that the department had not proved its case against him on ‘a balance of probabilities”. Swanepoel “strongly denied” that he was in the staff toilet with the pupil or that he had raped her.
He told the Sunday Times he had been “Wrongly accused” and did not agree with SACE’s guilty finding against him. Asked if he was prepared to pay damages, he said: “I am not going to pay for something that I didn’t do.
He said prior to the disciplinary hearings by the Western Cape education department in 2012, he was removed from the school and asked to teach at an adult education and training centre. “After it closed down, I began working from home. His lawyer said the next step would be to start discussions on the issue of quantum, “or proceed to arrange a date for a trial to decide on that”. SACE CEO Ella Mokgalane confirmed that Swanepoel was found guilty on July 1. Western Cape education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said Swanepoel had been given an opportunity to submit reasons to SACE why his name should not be removed from the register of educators. We await the outcome of this as this will determine action from the department’s side.”
Collette Julyan, the former pupil’s attorney, said the woman was battling to lead a normal life because she doesn’t trust anyone anymore, “especially those in authority. After the assault she failed grade 7, the first time she had failed a grade at school. “She repeated grade 7 and passed but then dropped out of school. She said she would have liked to have become a teacher or social worker. Julyan said a clinical psychologist found her client was suffering from trauma spectrum disorder as a direct result of the sexual assault. “She has mood disorders and is angry at everyone and is definitely battling.”
