Sixty women come forward in KZN Midlands sexual misconduct allegations

According to The Citizen, a total of 60 women have now come forward with allegations against a KwaZulu-Natal Midlands man accused of sexual misconduct spanning several years, with 16 more women reporting since a previous count of 44.

Allegations span years and include minors

The accounts collected allege conduct affecting women and girls over an extended period. Some of the alleged victims say they were still children when they were first targeted, with one saying she was as young as 11.

According to The Citizen, the oldest woman to have come forward was 70 at the time of her alleged encounter.

How the probe widened

According to The Citizen, private investigator Brad Nathanson, who is collating the accounts, traced the matter after an audit trail on a 15-year-old girl’s phone led him to the man. Nathanson told The Citizen:

“The full extent of the allegations and sheer number of women subjected to this predator‘s abuse is still emerging.”

The Citizen reports that Nathanson said the man had made the teenager believe she was his special girl and that there was an alleged sexual relationship between the man and the teenager.

Alleged methods of contact and grooming

The Citizen says women have alleged that, while they were still schoolgirls, he obtained their contact details and sent unsolicited sexually explicit photographs and videos. These messages were reportedly sent initially through platforms including Mxit and BlackBerry Messenger and later through Instagram and WhatsApp.

Several accounts cited by The Citizen focus on pupils from the same private school, with some women saying they were targeted while in Grades 6, 7 or 8. Receiving an unsolicited “dick pic” from the man was described in some accounts as becoming so commonplace it was regarded as something of a rite of passage among girls at the school, according to The Citizen.

Community awareness and stalled criminal action

The Citizen has learnt that concerns about the man and allegations surrounding his conduct appear to have been known in parts of the Midlands community for years. A resident told The Citizen:

“We have known about him for a long time, but nobody has done anything about it.”

According to The Citizen, concerns about the man’s conduct had been raised with a teacher and school management as far back as 2017. The Citizen reports that a criminal case later stalled after the investigating officer died and the docket could not be located.

Efforts to revive the matter

The Citizen says Nathanson is working with police to resuscitate the matter. He is collating statements and collecting available evidence, and The Citizen reports that several of the women who have come forward intend to lay criminal complaints.

Expert comment in the reporting

The Citizen quoted psychologist and medical doctor Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys on patterns of repeated offending, saying such individuals may grow more confident over time when there appear to be no consequences for their actions.