Johannesburg - *Violet asked for a video of two young children simulating a sexual act at her crèche in Alexandra last year.
Why did a frail 68-year-old do it?
She wanted evidence to show the parents what the boy, 2, and girl, 5, were caught doing in the bathroom, the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday.
The great-grandmother could barely stand in court. She pleaded guilty on a charge of compelled rape after a plea bargain with the State.
On Tuesday, the court made the plea bargain an order of court.
She was sentenced to a five-year, wholly suspended sentence, and her name will be added into the national database of sexual offenders.
Magistrate Gideon Schnetlel said Violet did not record the video for perverted purposes. The pensioner supports four great-grandchildren, is a first-time offender and her guilty plea showed remorse, the court said.
Violet was coming from a meeting at about 4pm on a Wednesday on February 19 last year when a teacher at her crèche told her what she had seen the children doing in the bathroom. The teacher caught them standing half-naked, performing a sexual act.
Violet called them to her office, said her lawyer, Phumlani Ntuli.
She “ordered the children to undress and re-enact the act”.
There was no penetration, Ntuli said, when the children simulated the act. Violet told her grand-daughter to record a video of the simulation.
The children’s parents came to fetch them later and were both shown the video. Violet told the parents that their children were no longer welcome at the crèche because of what they were found doing. The parents were livid at the enactment and the recording, and opened a case with the police. The crèche was later closed down.
Dumisile Nala, Childline national chief officer, said Violet should not have recorded the children as evidence
to show the parents.
“She (Violet) could have contacted a social worker in the area and explained to them what happened. The matter was then going to be handled delicately and professionally.”
*Not her real name
The Star