eMalahleni Court reserves sentence for convicted soccer coach
Both prosecution and defence attorneys have urged the court to ban the 43-year-old from ever working with children again.
Sentencing proceedings for a local soccer coach, Edwin Soko, were heard in the eMalahleni Regional Court today (August 18) following his conviction on child molestation charges stemming from late 2023.
This followed his appearance on August 14, when sentencing was postponed due to the absence of the prosecutor.
Arguments presented
In court, the defence attorney and the prosecutor presented their sentencing arguments.
The defence argued that the 43-year-old is a first-time offender, but still requested the court to impose a sentence that sends a clear message that such offences are unacceptable.
“We are looking to the honourable court to impose a sentence that is going to send a message to this accused so that he should be aligned to the fact that the offences that he has been convicted of have a serious negative impact on the victims,” Soko’s attorney said.
He also urged the court to consider the duration his client has spent in custody since bail was denied.
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Community trust breached
The prosecutor highlighted the community trust, placed in the accused to work closely with minors, which he breached by committing the offences.
“The accused before court is one man that would be described as not being an ordinary man in that he was trusted by the community to take care of society’s future, that being the young children who were soccer players,” she said. “To this day he stands before this honourable court showing no remorse whatsoever. The accused still stands by his word that he did not commit any of the offences. Now this is a man who is standing before this court and saying I do not care; what I did, I am not sorry for.”
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Both legal practitioners agreed in requesting an order banning the accused from working with children in future.
The court reserved sentence until September 17.
The accused was found guilty on nine counts, including sexual exploitation, sexual grooming, and sexual assault involving three boys, who were aged between eight and 13 at the time of the offences.
Today the eMalahleni Regional Court is expected to hand down a sentence to another soccer coach who was found guilty of child molestation
— WitbankNews (@WitbankN) August 14, 2026
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