Teacher gets three years for molesting pupils

Boniface Keakabetse | Friday September 4, 2015 14:40

 

The case, which started in 2012, has been dragging before Principal Magistrate Clifford Foroma due to postponements. Ten witnesses gave evidence for the state during the trial.

Passing judgement, the magistrate said that Modibedi is a disgrace to the teaching profession and deserves a jail term for what he has done. Modibedi was accused of molesting the 18 underage students at Mathiba Primary School where he worked as a Standard Three teacher. He was accused of molesting students in the storeroom and at his house by touching them on the breasts, thighs, buttocks and private parts.

On one such incident, the court heard that Modibedi fondled his students’ private parts under the pretext that he was verifying if they had sores on the buttocks such that they could not receive the 10-lash punishment he wanted to administer on them for not doing his assignment. 

 In one instance, he called a girl to his front desk in the classroom while other students were doing an assignment and indecently assaulted the girl. He also called two students to his house to cook for him and then called them into the bedroom interchangeably and assaulted them.

Passing judgement, magistrate Foroma observed that Modibedi, who hails from Mochudi, had committed a serious offence given the nature of the crime and the number of the girls concerned.  Foroma said, “I find that you cannot escape jail term.” He noted that, “assault of students by their teacher is a serious offence. Teachers need to have good integrity, trustworthiness and high moral standards when dealing with their students”.  He said this was a serious case, more so that the victims were nine-years- old at the time the offence was committed.

Foroma further said “due to the number of counts and number of people assaulted by someone of authority over them, this is a serious offence because the accused person abused that authority.

Foroma said he had noted that in mitigation, Modibedi said he had epilepsy. However, he said the accused failed to produce medical documentation to that effect.

He sentenced him to three years imprisonment, each count running concurrently. He also sentenced him to one stroke of cane for each of the 18 counts.