Parktown Boys on suicide watch following severe assault
A group of learners at Parktown Boys High has been placed on suicide watch by psychologists after they were allegedly abused by educators.
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of an alleged abuse of minors.
Improper conduct by educators at the prestige school has been reported since 2009.
A report into the conduct of former Parktown Boys High water polo coach, Collan Rex was released on Thursday evening.
Harris Nupen Molebatsi Attorneys presented the second report into allegations of abuse and assault at the school.
Attorney, Peter Harris, told the school community the firm found the assaults were so severe that according to physiological reports, a learner had committed suicide.
"The learner had been the subject of assault and that had in the view of the phycologist significantly contributed to that person taking his own life."
He says thirty-three learners are currently receiving counselling where six have been placed on suicide watch.
Harris explains that multiple red flags were raised by learners, but the school's authorities turned a blind eye or instituted inappropriate penalties on the alleged perpetrators.
"Issues of any violence towards any children should have been refined, strenuously, and religiously addressed in order to send the right message, and we find that the SGB did not impose the correct sentence in that case."
Rex has since pleaded guilty in the Palm Ridge Magistrates' Court in Johannesburg to 144 charges related to the sexual assault of young pupils on the school's premises.