Umm Muhammed Umar

A week ago, a school girl had allegedly been raped in a classroom, by a teacher, at a school in Dundee. Radio Islam spoke to the mother of the young victim.

The girl’s mother related the incident, saying that last Friday her husband had gone to the high school to fetch their 14 year old daughter, after school. She said that being ‘old fashioned’ parents, they transported their children themselves, to, and from, their destinations. However, on that particular day, their child was not waiting at the school gate. She said that when the girl’s father called her on her cell phone, he could not get through, but that eventually a woman answered the girl’s phone. the mother said, “She introduced herself as a school counsellor, and asked my husband to come inside. When he came inside, he was told my daughter was assaulted, but he thought that she was, like, molested, but didn’t think that she was raped.”

The mother said that there was a close friend of the family working at the school, and so her husband, assuming that it was a boy who had raped his daughter, asked the family friend to lead him to the girls assailant. She said, “When my husband saw that it was not a boy, it was a teacher, so my husband assaulted him.”

The parents phoned their doctor, who advised them to take their daughter to a crisis centre. At the crisis centre it was confirmed, using a rape kit, that the girl had indeed been raped. The girls mom said, “that’s when my husband lost it.”  The teacher was subsequently arrested.

According to the girl’s mother, the school did not contact them following the incident, which occurred at about 10.30 am on Friday morning, right up until classes were dismissed at 1.00 pm. She said that they had never heard from the school, with not even an enquiry into the family’s emotional well-being.

Residents of Dundee, have, meanwhile, been protesting outside the school. The 36-year-old teacher in question had apparently been previously employed at Sarel Cilliers School, in Glenco. The mother of the girl said that, “and he was fired for misconduct, previously. And this principle from Dundee High employed him…….so, I want to know when we go to court, and we sue the school, I want to know how did they do a reference check on him – the governing body and the principal – that he did not pick up his previous misconduct?” She added, “he has a history of doing this. All the protests and articles – the students are commenting and saying that it has been happening for years at Dundee High, and that Dundee High is aware of this, and they sweep it under the carpet.” The victim’s mother complained that no one had investigated the teacher’s actions. She added that her daughter, who was only 14-years-old had had the courage to come forward and be a voice for all of the children violated by the teacher. The distraught mom asked, “It happened in the school grounds, in a classroom; where were the teachers, the surveillance?” She continued, “They have cameras, where was all of that”? Infuriated, she said that parents paid exorbitant fees at the school, and that security was included in the payment.

The child’s mother says her child will never be the same following the rape. She is seeking justice for her daughter, saying, “I want him to have the full force of the law. I have seen that the country has become very firm with regards to gender-based violence; it has become a hot topic in this country. I want the harshest sentence for him, the harshest!”

The teacher, meanwhile, has been remanded in custody, and has applied for bail. His bail hearing is to take place on Monday.