The mother of four of the boys who were allegedly raped by Muslim scholar Nezaam Ali yesterday claimed that she has been offered $8 million by an Islamic organisation to settle the matter.
Ali, called Mufti of 268 Section ‘C’ 5 South Turkeyen, was charged in 2012 with raping nine boys. The charges alleged that between December, 2011 and January, 2012, Ali, being a teacher attached to the Turkeyen Masjid, engaged in sexual activity with the children, abusing a position of trust.
A hearing was scheduled for yesterday at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court, where the paper committal proceedings related to the charges against Ali have been reopened after it was discovered that key pieces of documents – birth certificates and medicals –were missing from the files, which has prevented the case from being tried in the High Court. However, the hearing was deferred as presiding Magistrate Alex Moore did not appear.
The mother of four of the boys was present at the court and in light of the deferral she lamented the continued delay of progress in the case. The woman stated that since the beginning of the case she has been running around and she noted that she was offered some $8 million by an Islamic organisation to settle the matter, but she refused.
She further reiterated that she has been continually tormented since the beginning of the case and that she and her children were fearful as strange men were passing by their house and taking pictures of them.
Ali was committed to stand trial in 2014 but shortly after, his lawyer, Nigel Hughes, filed an action in the High Court to have the committal overturned. However, this was rejected by the court.
