Former school counsellor Darren Goddard, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a boy, starts serving his life sentence from today.

He was sentenced earlier in the day by Judge Kate Pillay. His advocate, Shane Matthews, then applied for leave to appeal the sentence and convictions. He also applied to the court for his bail to be extended.

Pillay refused to extend his bail but granted him permission to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

Goddard was convicted in March last year on seven counts of sexual assault, including one of rape, as well as one charge of accessing and being in possession of child pornography, dating from 2012 to 2016, when he was employed as a school counsellor at a Pietermaritzburg primary school.

He was found to have abused and betrayed his victims’ trust, by using them for his own sexual gratification.