Matric in court after obscene ‘farewell gift’

A “farewell gift” of nude pictures of himself to a teacher has landed an 18-year-old Hoërskool Jeugland matric pupil in court.

Jaco Janse van Rensburg briefly appeared in Kempton Park Regional Court on Wednesday last week on a charge of housebreaking with the intent of committing an unknown crime. The case was remanded un December 10.

Capt Lesibana Molokomme, Norkem Park SAPS spokesman, said the incident happened on the weekend of October 19 to 21. October 18 was matric pupils’ last day at school.

Molokomme described the photographs as “porn” and Dr David Morris, Hoërskool Jeugland’s principal, said it was obscene, naked photographs of a man.

Morris said Van Rensburg apparently jumped over the school fence sometime that weekend, broke a window and left the pictures of himself on the teacher’s desk.

He said the teacher brought the photographs to him that Monday morning. On one of the photographs Van Rensburg’s face was clearly visible.

Morris reported the issue to the department of education and opened a criminal case.

He described the incident as a mystery, because Van Rensburg and the teacher had no contact with each other. She never tutored him nor was he in one of her classes.

He said the teacher, a “fairly young” woman, was highly traumatised as a result of this incident. Morris did not want to reveal her name.

He requested the community to remember that despite of what Van Rensburg did, he was still writing matric and they had to respect that.

He said it was the fist time something like this happened at Jeugland, where they teach children to respect each other. This was also emphasised in life orientation.

Gershwin Chuenyane, Gauteng Department of Education spokesman, said Van Rensburg was removed from the school environment and was writing his exams under strict supervision at the district office.

“We have put in an investigation and the outcome will determine the department’s action. We will also interact with the school governing body on how to proceed with the matter as learner discipline lies with the body in terms of the South African Schools Act,” he said.