A principal of a Roodekop private school has been accused of raping a then-6-year-old girl learner in 2022.
Image: Itumeleng English
The family of rape alleged rape victim #JusticeForCwecwe have come out to share how they are living in fear with prosecutors and investigators having withdrawn from the case.
The father of the rape victim has broken his silence on the matter and told the the publication how the alleged principal has hired gunmen to terrorise the family and everyone who is linked with the case.
This comes as the campaign #JusticeForCwecwe campaigns following the alleged rape of the toddler three years ago came to light that the Ekurhuleni private school principal three ago sexually violated the toddler.
It has now been established that the school principal of Phinduborn Private Academy in Roodekop in Ekurhuleni, identified in court documents as Edwin Tsikira, was running an unregistered school was using a fraudulent identity of a deceased.
it now have been established that Tsikira was briefly detained to determine his true identity and the mater is now being pursued by law enforcement authorities.
The father speaking to the publication said the family has done everything to get justice for their daughter with little to no help from the country's criminal justice system.
"The school was closed down by the department immediately, but less than a month later, the school was re-opened. We have opened a case of rape and have spoken to the department of education.
“There is no process we have not followed to seek justice for our child. We believe that someone senior in the justice system has tempered with the DNA samples off the child as they came back blank. This clearly shows that the samples were tempered with, and we were told that that this is not the first DNA samples that have been tampered with as there were other children whose samples came back the same way," the father said.
The emotional revealed that two investigating officers, two state prosecutors, including activists from People Against Women Abuse (POWA) have distanced themselves from the case due to alleged threats and acts of bribery to make the matter go away.
"This case is deep. The State Prosecutor resigned. The first Investigating Officer resigned. The first captain resigned. The second one decided to go on pension. The lady from POWA also left. Everyone who was helping us has left.
“We were the one who went to home affairs to find out if this man is legally here in this country. I asked the investigating officer how they released someone accused of rape on bail without checking if their documents are legitimate.
I asked her: 'Have you verified his documentations?' She told me she has a lot of work," the father stated.The Star has also established that besides rape allegations, Tsikira is also said to have forged identity documents and running an unregistered school which was temporarily closed down by the Gauteng Department of Education.However, it was established that within a week the school was back operational.
The publication has also established that the principal had handlers who have allegedly hired a group of hitmen to deal with this family on numerous occasions. The father also told the newspaper that the principal has allegedly raped 13 other girl leaners at this particular school with most of the parents having been forced into silence through acts of intimidation and threats.
The father said his family has changed homes more than four times and cars more than five times to evade threats against their child but been able to cope with school having failed the same grade two times.
The publication has tried to reach the National Prosecuting Autherity (NPA)to verity the claims of the prosecutors having withdrawn from the case but drew blanks.A former NPA official who is familiar with the case has told how the institution and the non-governmental organization has tried to pursue the case.
“While I was at POWA I was assisting the family with escalating their concerns. I’m no longer at POWA but so intend to be at the trial. The case had shocking inconsistencies and was escalated to the Senior Prosecutor and also the Hawks.
“The team currently working on the case as the previous prosecutor resigned and the investigating officer was also changed. This family has really experienced a disservice from the moment the case was opened, there were even delays in referring the minor for counselling by the state.
"Boksburg police provincial spokesperson Captain Tinstwalo Sibeko has confirmed the rape cases." I can confirm that a rape case was opened and the case to 17 March 2025v at the Germiston Regional Court," he said.
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