Primary principal alleged to be linked to national child porn investigation

NELSPRUIT – Parents and educators are shocked over the arrest of a local school principal last week for the alleged possession of child pornography.

The principal has been identified in a letter sent to parents informing them of his arrest.

However, the media may, by law, not identify him until he has pleaded on the charge against him.

He appeared in the White River Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. He was released on bail of R1 000 and the case was postponed to September 19.

According to an informed source, the principal is alleged to have been investigated by a special police unit from Gauteng, which focuses its attention on apparent sex offenders.

He allegedly downloaded images from a child-pornography website in Canada.

Gauteng police spokesman Brig Neville Malila, confirmed the investigation was done from a police unit there and said this specific case stretched across all the provinces and would possibly also be investigated internationally with regard to child pornography.

He said at this stage that was all the information he could give the media as their national police communications department would be handling the case further, but had not yet been informed.

According to the letter circulated to parents, a mutual agreement has been reached with the principal that his position has been terminated with immediate effect.

The school reiterated that its primary focus was the safety of its pupils and would act strongly and decisively against any wrongdoing.

Mpumalanga education department spokesman, Mr Gerald Sambo, said the department had not been notified of the incident, but would let justice take its course first.

He said it would respond once it had more information.