Pretoria teen harassed by e-mail
2011-03-01 09:50
Pretoria - A former head boy at Crawford College has laid charges after receiving obscene e-mails in which he was repeatedly intimidated.
Wesley Grimm, currently a BComm student at the University of Pretoria, told reporters on Monday of his "nightmare matric year", after receiving these e-mails right through his final exams.
While in Grade 11 he received e-mails from someone who pretended to want to befriend him so that he could help him join Crawford.
The person, whom Grimm didn't know at all, happened to know that this mother, Jane, was a deputy head of the school.
Changed e-mail address
After Grimm realised the person was being dishonest, he broke off all contact and changed his e-mail address. Almost a whole year went by until he received a very obscene e-mail from a strange e-mail address on October 6 last year.
Grimm said he continued receiving these e-mails right through his matric exams. It later appeared that they could have been sent by someone who had access to the school and knew what happened behind closed doors.
Grimm for instance received an a-mail after he began asking questions about the handling and use of money that the pupil's body specifically raised for the matric farewell. Some of the money was held in the school safe to which only some staff members had access.
The contents of the e-mails became worse and Grimm and his mother turned to Advtech, owners of the Crawford schools, asking for protection and intervention.
But the intimidation continued and on January 6 Grimm again received an e-mail in which mention was made of the eight distinctions he received in his final exams. He received the last e-mail on January 10.
Arrest
Grimm said he couldn't describe to anyone what he and his family had been going through over the past few months.
Jaco Lotz, executive head of the Crawford schools, said that in September last year a pupil had complained about receiving obscene e-mails and allegations were made about some staff members.
Due to the seriousness of the matter, he advised Grimm to report it to the police. "We are prepared to work with the investigation. We are aware that someone has been arrested who is not an employee or pupil of the school.
"If further investigations show that a staff member or pupil was involved in the incident, we will act in accordance with the law."
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini confirmed that a man had been arrested in connection with the incident. It is not clear how he is linked to the e-mails.
He is apparently married to a staff member of the school.
He will soon appear in court on charges of intimidation and crimen injuria.
