The Western Cape High Court has upheld convicted paedophile Ian Appleton’s appeal against a five-year jail sentence for the serial rape of a boy whose parents he had befriended for 50 years.
The rapes between 2007 and 2009 started when the boy was seven.
The Paarl Regional Court convicted the 73-year-old retired accountant in December 2010 and in March sentenced him to five years behind bars. In April, his R10 000 bail was doubled pending his appeal.
In a judgment on Tuesday, Judges Vincent Saldanha and Daniel Dlodlo ordered that the former schoolmaster be sentenced to correctional supervision, involving a period of house arrest following a short period of imprisonment. They referred the case back to the Regional Court to determine the period of imprisonment and the house arrest. The Regional Court will also have to investigate whether he remained on a Cape Town-based treatment programme for sex offenders, during his incarceration. Appleton will have to pay for the programme.
The judges found that magistrate Nomawethue Smile “erred in not having accorded sufficient weight to the appropriateness of a sentence of correctional supervision”.
The boy’s mother was furious, saying the justice system had failed him. She said only a life sentence would have satisfied her. “But the system lost the fact that a young child had been raped, not once, but many times. I’m completely shattered. I’m a very sad woman today. It is a crying shame. What message is this sending to mothers of children who have been raped?
“They lost sight of the crime. It is also sad to see how money can influence the system. He is wealthy and can hire the best lawyers.”
The boy’s father said that, as parents, their biggest regret had been not putting their son on the witness stand. “We made the wrong decision. He’s a strong little kid. Had he testified, things might have turned out differently,” he said.
The parents cannot be named so as to protect the identity of the now 10-year-old.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said: “We are disappointed with the court’s decision. We view cases of this nature in a very serious light. The DPP is going to study the judgment and provide a response later.”
During the trial, the court heard how Appleton had twice been admitted to a sex offenders’ programme, but had not overcome his paedophiliac urges and had raped the boy regularly.
In his guilty plea, Appleton had said a game called “aeroplanes” had led to the rape.
As Appleton’s trial was under way, 10 men contacted the Cape Times and alleged he had sexually assaulted them when they were boys, dating as far back as 1976. Appleton was a teacher at Christian Brothers College in Green Point between 1976 and 1982. - Cape Times