More charges have been added to the case of a 37-year-old man who was initially charged with seven counts of rape in Durban.

The man, a sports coach, appeared in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court in Durban yesterday and there were delays with his matter as the prosecutor alerted the magistrate that he was adding more counts of rape.

Two more counts were added and he now faces nine counts of rape, as he is alleged to have raped teenage boys from November 2022 to May 2023 in the Ntuzuma area.

The matter was adjourned to August 21 to finalise investigations.

Outside court, the families of the affected boys were present and were getting impatient. They are concerned the delays could mean that the coach could be granted bail.

Parents

A mother of one of the boys said she trusted the accused with her son and had never thought her son could be harmed in the coach’s  presence, let alone by him.

“In my house three teenage boys were raped…it’s my son (aged 15), and his two cousins who are 12 and 14 years old. The boys pretend to be okay but we can tell that they are trying to brush it off and not talk about,” she alleged.

The families said they found out about the abuse when the 15-year-old spoke out.

She alleged the coach threatened to kill the boys and their families if they spoke out, ‘he showed them a gun each time after assaulting each one of them’.

“From the 15th when he made his first appearance we have not received any assistance from social workers, the children are now always angry and it’s hard for us parents to speak to them.”