NEWS
Flashing teacher EXPOSED!
Kailene Pillay
A
forty-something Midlands teacher who was found guilty of exposing his genitals to a group of 14-year-old girls just outside St Anne’s Diocesan College in Hilton was given a five year suspended sentence last week. Ashley McNicoll (43) of Summit Road, Hilton pleaded guilty to what he described as ‘an accident’. In his own statement to the court, McNicoll explained how he had been for a jog on Tuesday, July 16. As he sat on the curb, he noticed a group of about 20 girls also jogging along the school boundary in Church Lane. “I pulled my shorts to one side and closed my legs until the complainant and her group of friends passed me. I then opened my legs widely exposing my genital organ,” said McNicoll in his statement. He returned to the school three days later, on Friday July 19, where he was identified by one of the girls and apprehended by the school’s headmaster, David Arguile, together with a parent and security guard. McNicoll pleaded with the court ‘to have mercy when imposing sentence’ and admitted that his actions were ‘wrongful, unlawful and intentional’. According to headmaster
Arguile, both learners and teachers were upset and angry by the incident. This is the first time the school has experienced something like this, said Arguile. Although McNicoll is a teacher, Arguile said he was not known to St Anne’s.
5
“The school took appropriate action in apprehending the culprit and ensuring that a charge was laid. We then left it to the law to take its course. Parents have supported the school’s actions,” he said. In his statement, McNicoll said that he was a teacher living in China and would be returning there in August. It is understood that he is married and that his wife lives in China. Regional Magistrate ZW Ngwenya in sentencing McNicoll to five years imprisonment suspended the sentence for five years on condition that the accused does not commit a similar offence during the period of suspension. The accused has no previous convictions or pending cases. He was found guilty of “exposure or display of or causing exposure or display of genital organs to a child (‘flashing’)” in terms of the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Act 37 of 2007. The public prosecutor in the case was S Twala. The accused was represented by N. Binessarrie through Legal Aid. McNicoll's mother said afterwards "he was just running and stopped to have a wheeze. He suffered terribly in prison." He is currently away on holiday.
Public Eye August 02, 2013 - Page 5