A fresh allegation of sexual assault has emerged against a retired Eastern Cape headmaster who previously confessed to fondling two other pupils at another school more than 30 years ago.
Richard Second, 61, is now being investigated by the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in Grahamstown after being accused of sexually assaulting a former pupil of Queen’s College Boys’ Primary School in Komani (Queenstown) while he was a headmaster.
He retired as headmaster of the school in February 2018 after having been there since 2006.
Second, a father of two, worked as a teacher there from 1989 to 1993.
The school has since removed his portrait from its walls, as well as a plaque honouring his legacy on artificial turf.
After the first set of allegations became public in a Sunday Times report on November 4, the former Queen’s pupil posted to Facebook a week later that he too had been sexually assaulted by Second.
“I was molested and raped by Second before and while he was principal at the school.
“I told staff and peers but nobody believed me and [I] soon kept it to myself. I am not keeping it a secret any longer.
“Second . . . is a rapist and justice must be served,” posted the former pupil, who declined to comment as the investigating officer had instructed him not to speak to the media.
A few hours later, he posted an update, saying: “People are out to stop me from getting my story out and prevent justice from being served.
“We must stand together to stop sick people from hurting the innocent.”
He opened a case with the Komani police in November.
Asked this week about the allegations of sexual assault at Queens, Second said: “That incident was not resolved because he never got back to the inquiry. You will have to contact my lawyers.
“My lawyer is dealing with these matters, these untruths, these allegations,” he said.
“I am not going to comment . . . These allegations must be dealt with through the necessary channels.”
His lawyer, Vuyani Majabe, declined to comment.
Komani police spokesperson Captain Namhla Mdleleni said according to information they had received, two incidents had occurred when the alleged victim was in grade 4 and then in grade 5 during the 2000s.
“We investigated a case of rape. The [alleged] victim was 10 years old,” she said.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said both cases against Second were with the DDPP which would decide whether or not to charge him.
“Further information can only be released if the case goes to court. At this stage, we are not certain what the DDPP’s decision will be.”
A DDPP in the Eastern Cape, advocate Selvan Gounden, confirmed both cases were being investigated.
“We received the dockets in December. The matter is under investigation.
“It is allegations at this stage and we have not made a decision of any sort,” he said.
Two former schoolmates, who both declined to be named, told Weekend Post the alleged victim had often warned them about Second.
“We were in grade 6 together. He always used to tell us that Second would rape us and we should be careful,” one said.
The other schoolmate said: “I feel terrible for not believing him back then but Second was a kind, attentive teacher.
“But he always had a bad relationship with [the alleged victim]. When I read about it on Facebook everything just made sense.”
Queen’s College Boys’ Primary School governing body chair Brendan Raasch said the SGB had notified the police on November 12 after seeing the post on Facebook.
“We asked the police to investigate the matter and any other arising.”
He said the school would co-operate in any way possible with the investigation.
The school has also offered pupils assistance through various means such as classes on sexual abuse and information boards with details of where any incidents can be reported.
“The safety and protection of our boys are always our highest priority.
“A counselling psychologist has empowered staff grappling with feelings of betrayal and they have been invited to schedule private sessions with her at the school’s cost,” he said. “The portrait and name plate were removed, not as a result of this allegation on Facebook, but due to Second’s admission of guilt in the Sunday Times, regarding allegations of sexual misconduct while he was a teacher at another school in the 80s.
“For the same reason . . . we also felt it necessary to remove recent pictures of him on social media that celebrated his leadership.”
He said the school had no further knowledge of the incident posted to Facebook.
“I have looked at our school records we have on file and there is no mention of him nor his parents reporting any incident of sexual abuse,” he said.
Second confessed in an e-mail in 2018 to a former Dale College Boys’ Primary School pupil, who had tracked him down and confronted him about being sexually assaulted in the 1980s.
Second was an art teacher at Dale in King William’s Town at the time, according to the Sunday Times report in 2018.
In a later e-mail to the Sunday Times, Second denied the sexual assault but admitted to fondling the victim and another pupil at Dale.