When Anthony* was allowed to go on a school trip to Europe, he shook with excitement.
It was 1976 and the 14-year-old Christian Brothers College pupil was keen to experience a taste of life “overseas”.
The trip started in Athens and moved to Rome, Italy; followed by a merry Christmas in London; skiing in Austria over the New Year of 1977; and finally Amsterdam.
Now, 35 years later, the 50-year-old man remembers the trip for all the wrong reasons.
During his week’s stay in Austria, the unthinkable happened. Because they were a mixed bunch from CBC in Cape Town and CBC in Kimberley, the boys were told to rotate accommodation so they could get to know one another.
As it turned out, they would share rooms with their teachers, including Ian Appleton, who was also the sports master at the college.
Anthony recalls that when the boys got to Austria it was his turn to share a room with Appleton. There were two single beds in the room.
After a day of skiing they returned to their room. “I was reading a book with my back turned to Appleton. He asked me if I wanted to look at some pornography magazines…
“He came up behind me and lay down next to me and placed the mags - with photos of naked boys - in front of me. Still behind me, he placed his hands on me.
“I can somehow remember Appleton telling me he would like to do to me what he did to those boys (like in the porno magazines) in London. This all happened very quickly and deeply shocked me.
“I jumped up and fled the room.”
Anthony says he did not know how to deal with the situation.
“No sexual act took place but his advances were quite clear,” the Old Boy asserted.
Back home in Cape Town, Anthony warned one of his schoolmates, who thought “it was cool to have a teacher as a buddy”, to beware of Appleton.
An incident the Old Boy called “sadistic” prompted him to tell his mother about what Appleton had done to him overseas.
This was after Appleton apparently injured a schoolboy he was disciplining for false-starting during an athletics practice.
“I will never forget Appleton saying to Zane, ‘I hope it bleeds well and serves you right’.”
Anthony says that a few months later he was summoned into the office of the principal, JA Gaynor, and interrogated for about two hours.
The principal would not believe his story, saying Appleton and his family were upstanding members of the community.
“He said a lie detector test would sort me out.”
Shaken by the aggression of the principal but keen to prove he had nothing to hide, Anthony says he agreed to the test, but it never materialised. - Cape Times
* Not his real name