Cape Town - The alleged victim of a well-known Cape Town jazz musician accused of rape, grooming and sexually assaulting the man when he was under aged has spoken out publicly for the first time.
A video has been posted on the Facebook page of the Say His Name campaign, which encourages the victims of sexual abuse and rape to speak out against their abusers.
The caption of the Facebook video names the 49-year-old musician and music teacher, despite a court order that he cannot be named or identified by the media.
The activists behind the Say His Name campaign includes Anglican priest and alleged rape victim Reverend June Dolley-Major. She said that the young man in the video is the complainant in the case against the popular musician from Kuilsriver and that they felt it was important to provide a platform for the alleged victim to speak out.
The unidentified young man began his account of the alleged abuse by saying: “It took me a while to build up, sort of, the courage to do this. It took a lot of communication… and it took a lot of people that have (gone) through the same thing to allow me to get to this point and tell my story now.” In a tearful and emotional video message the young man said: “My story dates back...probably eight years now, where I only decided to come out a year ago to my family and people that I really care about. I am a victim of rape, molestation and sexual grooming.”
He continued to detail the abuse that took place when he was a teenager.
“I myself was trapped inside myself not being able to explain this is happening to me. This is what’s happening to me, it was difficult. So all my life, ever since then I felt like I’m alone in this. I felt used, you feel worthless, you are being used as someone’s pleasuring tool.”
The young man added: “Going through this abuse, through this grooming, through this molestation - I won’t wish it on my worst enemy because not even they deserve to go through that and not for the time period of how long I went through it, where thankfully it just stopped. It just stopped.”
Dolley-Major said: “The reason why we started the Say His Name campaign is because of the gag order that was taken out against me...the primary aim of the campaign is that we will be bold enough to say the name of any rapist or killer for that matter.”
The musician appeared in court earlier this month and the case against him was transferred to the Blue Downs Regional Court, where on July 2 prosecutors will re-evaluate the evidence against him and possibly set a date for a trial.