Teen sex assaults caught on tape

Durban - The court need to take a strong but rehabilitative line on children found guilty of sexually abusing other children.
This is according to Joan van Niekerk, president of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.
She was reacting to children having been both victims and perpetrators of rapes in two cases – which were both filmed – that this week appeared before courts in KwaZulu-Natal.
In the one case, an unconfirmed number of between 15 and 19 schoolboys aged between 16 and 19 appeared for the rape of a single 15-year-old girl at a high school in Lamontville, south of Durban.
And at eSikhawini, near Richards Bay, four youths appeared in court after they allegedly forced a group of younger boys to rape each other.
“Hopefully, (if found guilty) they will enter some sort of programme in which they learn how abusive and unacceptable it is,” Van Niekerk said.
She added that she was extremely pleased that there had been arrests, and that the cases had made it to court.
Read: Boys forced to rape each other
Van Niekerk said technology available to children made it easy for them to make such films, and the producers of them often felt important in the eyes of their peers.
“Many children take videos without realising the seriousness of what they are doing, and that it is child pornography, which is a very serious offence.”
She said that, while children were exposed to plenty of sexual images, they were not bombarded with good information about the responsible management of sexuality.
“Teachers and parents are not able to talk comfortably about responsible sexuality,” she said.
The Durban case came to the attention of the police as a result of an orgy having been filmed. The video was then circulated in the community.
The arrests were followed by protests by parents, who blockaded the entrance to the Lamontville school.
Fingers were pointed at a teacher who discovered the film and reported it, the police who carried out the arrests, and the girl, who was accused of being promiscuous.
The girl is in Grade 8 and has since been moved to another school.
In the Richards Bay case, police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala said a group of boys had been swimming at Madaka reserve in the Mkhobosa area of eSikhawini when they were allegedly attacked by four youths aged between 15 and 19.
They now face charges of compelled rape and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The four were arrested by the Empangeni Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.
The 10 boys had apparently gone swimming at the Injunga dam to cool themselves when they were accosted by the four youths.
An uncle of one of the abused boys was quoted as saying: “They were dragged into a forest and were forced to have sex with each other.”