Rapist Neil le Roux, a former teacher at a top East London school, has been described by the state as a “wolf in sheep’s skin” who preyed on his victims using alcohol to entice them.
The 67-year-old Le Roux was in May found guilty of raping a student teacher, and the sexual grooming and sexual assault of a schoolgirl and the sexual assault of another student teacher.
Le Roux’s advocate Neil Schoeman, in his final arguments before regional magistrate Ignatius Kitching on Tuesday, pleaded with Kitching to spare his client jail time because of his age, ill-health and the fact that “no force was used in perpetrating these offences”.
Schoeman pleaded with court that Le Roux should be sentenced to a correctional supervision sentence, a small fine and or a community service sentence.
He also said Le Roux was a senior member in his Anglican church, a family man with a wife, children and grandchildren and that he was involved in a programme that helped 150 children with their studies.
State prosecutor Bonginkosi Mafa, in his final arguments, said Le Roux’s age and reported ill-health should not deter the court from sending him to jail as he had shown no mercy to his victims when committing such “monstrous crimes”.
Mafa said Le Roux had “planned and perfectly calculated his every move” before committing such acts against a 13-year-old Grade 7 pupil and two student teachers at the school. They cannot be named due to nature of the crime.
The former teacher left the top East London school in disgrace in April 2016 after the charges first emerged.
Mafa said Le Roux’s actions had left “traumatic, psychological scars” on his victims.
“He was preying on these kids wearing a sheep’s skin. He calculated his moves well and because all the victims knew him well and were fond of him, he abused his authority and tainted the image of the prestigious school at the same time.
“During trial he did not even show remorse for his actions, but is now asking for mercy or sympathy. The question we should be asking ourselves is whether he showed mercy to his victims, and the answer is no,” argued Mafa.
The teenager had testified that between 2014 and 2016, Le Roux kissed her three times,put his hand on her thigh when he was driving her home, kissed her neck, licked her ear and repeatedly and intensely embraced her with his head on her chest and his hands on her buttocks.
The abuse ended in April 2016 when another teacher saw Le Roux embrace the girl in his classroom after giving her an extra Afrikaans lesson.
The student teachers had testified that Le Roux had touched them indecently and that he had inserted his finger in their private parts after he had offered them alcohol in a school classroom and in his car. He raped one of them in a classroom after hours.
One of the victims on Tuesday again testified about the impact of Le Roux’s actions on her life. The two other victims were still “too traumatised” to take the stand.
The court gallery had to be cleared after she had asked court to do so, saying she was uncomfortable to testify in full glare of people who were not directly involved in the saga.
The student teacher who testified told court that she suffered depression, anxiety and a serious breakdown as a result, was on medication for such. She said the incident had a negative impact on her work.
When cross-examined by Le Roux’s advocate Neil Schoeman on the contents of her “victim impact statement report” she submitted to court on Tuesday, the victim became agitated, accusing the advocate of “putting more stress and trying to add more trauma on me”.
She also told court that the incident took place shortly after she had lost her father, and thus “placed more stress on me and that is when I had a breakdown”.
The other student teacher has since left the school.
Le Roux will know his fate on Thursday when Kitching delivers his sentence...