Mitchells Plain teacher accused of sexual grooming seeks bail

A former Grade R teacher at Harvester Primary School returned to court on Monday, where it was heard that she could be released on bail as there isn’t a likelihood that she would undermine the criminal justice system.

The teacher, who cannot be named until she has pleaded, proceeded with her bail application in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate's Court, where she faces charges of sexual grooming of a child and exposing a child to explicit material.

The court heard testimony from the investigating officer in the matter, Warrant Officer Roland Peters, who told the court that the 35-year-old accused had allegedly instigated conversations on TikTok with the 13-year-old Grade 7 learner.

Peters said: “The contents of the messages on TikTok where the accused instigated contact with the complainant asking if the boy is the same person at school, and the boy said yes. The accused requested that the boy call her by her first name after he referred to her as ma’am because it makes her feel old. The messages said ‘don’t f**king call me ma’am call me [by my name]’. The accused indicated that she is not a strict teacher and said on the chat he can relax with her. The conversation then switched over to WhatsApp.”

This follows after the victim asked the teacher for her number because he allegedly has a good relationship with many teachers and wanted to grow his contact list.

The detective said the boy confirmed that he received an explicit video of the teacher wearing provocative clothing exposing her breasts and her face can be seen clearly.

The court heard that prior to her sending the video she requested that the boy send her a video and he sent a video of him and his younger brother playing video games.

Peters also said the accused realised that after she sent the video that she could lose her job and asked the minor to delete it, however, he asked her for R500 for it to be erased.

He then later dropped the payment as she said "her life is already over".

The State said they are opposing her bail as the accused was in a possession of authority entrusted to care for minors, as well as public outrage surrounding the case, and strong media following.

However, the accused’s legal representative argued that she gave her full cooperation during her arrest, handed her cellphone in for investigation, is not a flight risk, that she would not commit the offence again and is a first time offender.

The magistrate said that given that she would not undermine the proper functioning of the criminal justice system, she questioned why she should remain in custody.

The magistrate said: “The courts are required to lean in favour of granting bail … the State doesn’t worry about the child’s safety or other children. It looks like the state has no grounds to oppose her release. Your main reason for no release is because of the public interest.”

The court heard that members of the Mitchells Plain community and parents of the school also brought a petition to oppose the accused’s release on bail.

The defence stated that her client is able to pay R2 000 bail. The matter was postponed until July 1 for the State to properly prepare and for argument.

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