A disgraced high school teacher had failed in his attempts to pay R5 000 in exchange for the silence of learners he kissed and made sexual comments towards.
Ryan Andrews, employed at the Elsies River High School at the time, resorted to pleading guilty and was fired after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) imposed the sanction of dismissal.
It was further ordered the ruling be shared with the South African Council for Educators (Sace) to revoke his teaching certificate and with the Department of Social Development for his name to be listed on the register of sexual offenders, as he was found unsuitable to again work with children.
The award document states that the incident against two former learners, who are now 18 and 20 years old, happened in November 2022.
The first girl testified that the incident with Andrews happened when she was 19, after school when he approached her asking if she participated in sport and requested her number.
At night, Andrews sent a message again about sports and whether she had a boyfriend – a message she ignored.
Part of evidence, her photograph that was her WhatsApp profile picture was shown and reacting to it Andrews had messaged that she “would require a wheelchair after he was finished with her”, which she ignored because she felt “very uncomfortable and thought that the message was nasty”.
On another day, Andrews told her about a file he wanted in a room which at the time was an empty classroom.
When she turned around to leave, the teacher pushed her up against the cupboard and kissed her.
She expressed feeling “disgusted and felt that Andrews had wanted more” from her.
The learner had attempted to file a protection order against a Western Cape Education Department (WCED) labour relations officer probing the matter after Andrews apparently told her to do so in order to save his job.
The second girl testified that while walking past Andrews, he asked her to come to his classroom after school.
She did at about 2.45pm and when she stepped into the classroom, he closed the door and pushed her into a cupboard commenting that “this was his size” and then kissed her.
When she pushed him, he apologised about the kiss and told her not to report it at the office.
She also received a message from Andrews asking whether she had a boyfriend and also sent her stick sex positions. He later deleted the message after she asked why he had sent them.
She also testified that she never knew how Andrews had got her phone number.
A bundle of evidence showed a call log of calls received from Andrews on the learner’s phone where he said he would pay her R5 000 to withdraw the case.
Andrews testified that he had tried to commit suicide with an overdose of sleeping tablets for which he had been hospitalised. He spent a month each day in the Life Skills Centre where he had realised the “error” in his ways.
He wanted to plead guilty to the charges, stating he did not want to listen to any more witnesses and did not wish to testify as he may feel traumatised.
Commissioner Gail McEwan criticised how Andrews had bullied those involved in attempts to try to get them to drop the case.
“What Andrews failed to understand is that the charges were brought about by the employer and even if those involved ‘dropped’ the case, the matter would proceed to its conclusion.
“I have confirmed advising Andrews of his rights and the possible outcomes he may face in pleading guilty to all charges. I do not think that anyone facing such charges would have taken the chances to stall the case so much in the event that he was not guilty. At the end Andrews insisted he was pleading and was guilty as charged so hence he never gave his own version of events,” said McEwan.
WCED spokesperson Millicent Merton welcomed the outcome handed down, saying the department had adopted a zero tolerance approach to any form of sexual abuse in schools in the province.
Cape Times