ZENZELE KUHLASE, Nelspruit | Tuesday
A FORMER Roman Catholic Church priest has been charged with sodomising two boys at a child care centre in Mpumalanga, a year after completing a suspended sentence for molesting five other children.
Father Joseph Michel Barrette was first sentenced in 1997 for sodomising five boys aged between 14 and 16 at the Moses Sihlangu Health Care Centre in KaBokweni near White River, but the sentence was suspended and expired last year.
Barrette is a counsellor at the centre, which was established more than 15 years ago for homeless children.
On Friday morning, he handed himself over to the police after two 16-year-old boys accused him of sexual harassment.
He appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday and was not asked to plead on two counts of indecent assault.
He was released on R2 000 bail and the case was postponed to September 28 for further investigation.
Investigating officer Inspector Freddy Magagula said that one of the boys said Barrette kissed him on June 11 while treating him for the contagious skin disease scabies. He was allegedly given R10. He also accused Barrette of sodomising him on July 18 and offering to buy him clothes.
‘Boys were heard discussing how much they had been paid for sex with the counsellor’ On June 20, the boy and another teenager were allegedly both sodomised in the same room, and the second teenager was allegedly given R50.
The matter was exposed when a social worker at the centre overheard the two boys comparing how much they had been paid after being abused.
A workshop was immediately held at the centre to teach the children about their rights and how to break the silence of being abused.
The case was then reported to police on August 22 and Barrette turned himself in two days later. – African Eye News Service