Johannesburg- Sentencing proceedings in the trial of sexual predator Collan Rex is nearing it’s conclusion, with the prosecution and the defence expected to present closing arguments on Thursday.
Rex, 23, was found guilty of 144 counts of sexual assault and 12 counts of sexual assault in September 2018.
During the trial, many boys from the high profile Johannesburg school, most of whom were boarders, testified how Rex had choked them during 2016.
Some testified that he had touched their genitals.
Rex’s defence said he meant no harm choking the boys – “it was merely horseplay,” he argued.
During the sentencing proceedings at South Gauteng High Court, sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, has heard evidence by the prosecution.
On Tuesday the probation officer, presented a report recommending that Rex be sentenced to a direct jail term.
On Wednesday, the court heard from matron at the school, Mariolette Bossert, about how the behaviour of a number of boys, most of whom were boarders, changed hugely after 2016.
She described one of the boys, he was a leader, “He was the most amazing child, a leader,” she said.
However since the story broke out about the sexual assaults, the boy is now under suicide watch after attempting to take his own life in 2017.
Bossert said the boy wrote his final at a psychiatric hospital in the North West. He started smoking weed after the incident.
“He would walk by himself to Hillbrow to buy drugs. He started drinking,” said Bossert.
She also described how another boy who had attempted to report Rex’s behaviour to the head of boarding at the school, the boy was advised to “stay away from Rex”. She said the boy was now seeing a psychologist once a week.
The court also heard testimonies from the boys’ parents on how the sexual assaults had changed their children’s lives.
Photo credit- TimesLIVE
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