AFTER years of silence, an alleged victim of a former Western Cape karate instructor has spoken up about her ordeal.
In February, Weekend Argus revealed that Western Cape police were investigating a case of sexual assault and rape of a then-15-year-old who had been allegedly impregnated by her karate instructor.
body.copy...: The case was opened at the Citrusdal police station in 2019 by a student after it came out that the man, whose name is known to the paper, was allegedly targeting farm workers’ children under the guise of a karate upliftment programme in the Citrusdal area between 2017 and 2018.
On Friday, Weekend Argus met one of the other alleged victims, a former Karate-Zen student from Citrusdal. She spoke about the sexual harassment that she said left her traumatised which she reported to the police in 2018.
The 17-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, described how her innocence had been stolen by someone she trusted and how she now hoped justice would prevail.
“When I hear the word karate, I see his face,” she said, adding that she could not forget the “extremely” traumatic experience.
“I trusted him, he was like a pappa figure (sic) to me.
“At that time, I was still under age, I did not know how to handle this properly. I couldn’t even tell my own mom about this,” she said.
She explained that it all started when he flirted and made “weird remarks”.
“He touched me inappropriately and would say things about my boobs. He also grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed his biesigheid against my behind,” she added.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said a case of assault with grievous bodily harm was registered for investigation.
Selwyn Rhode, head-instructor at Karate-Zen, called for alleged victims to come forward. “This is unacceptable, I am completely shocked,” he told Weekend Argus.
Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile confirmed that a different case relating to the then-15-year-old was still under investigation.
Patekile said the case had been delayed as they were still waiting for the paternity results to determine whether the suspect had fathered the child in question.
The Karate-Zen scandal was exposed by a whistle-blower who goes by the pseudonym Charmaine du Plessis, who sent a report to Western Cape Premier Alan Winde in 2020.
As previously reported, Winde’s office confirmed receipt of the report and had referred it to the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.
In her report, Du Plessis alleged that there were three underage girls who were assaulted by the instructor.
A source who used to work at the West Coast Karate Federation told the newspaper that she always saw the suspect with the same three girls.
Weekend Argus also learnt that the instructor also had a pupil transport contract with the Western Cape Education Department from 2012 which was cancelled two years later.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said that the contract was ceded to another contractor “on account of personal circumstances” which did not allow the contractor to continue the service.
Weekend Argus previously reported that the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) had written to Karate South Africa requesting a report into the allegations levelled against the instructor from its affiliate association Western Cape Karate.
Attempts to contact the former karate instructor for comment were unsuccessful.