Johannesburg - A South African man and former teacher, Iain Wares, is wanted for sex crimes against boys in the UK, the Women and Men Against Child Abuse says.
WMACA founder Miranda Jordan said a man, Stephen (not his real name), had come forward as the first complainant against a South African school teacher.
It is reported that Wares is wanted in the UK for allegedly abusing dozens of boys. He said he was fighting extradition in a high-profile case to face charges in Scotland.
“WMACA remains deeply concerned that he was arrested in 2019 and was allowed to await the extradition outcome at home in South Africa, rather than in prison, which is not the norm,” Jordan said.
She said Wares, a former math teacher and rugby coach, was named as the culprit of various sexual crimes in the House of Commons in the UK last week.
The BBC reports that in documents related to extradition proceedings, Wares admitted that while teaching at Edinburgh Academy, he had “urges to touch the students inappropriately, and on occasion I did so”.
“He has admitted to abusing boys, in this statement and yet is not in jail, neither in South Africa nor the UK.
“The court documents state that the teacher decided to travel to the UK in 1967 for psychiatric treatment for his problem.
“He spent three months at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital before being discharged and obtaining a diploma in education at Moray House College the following year,” Jordan said.
It is also reported that last month, Fettes College, where he also taught, issued a “full and unreserved apology to anyone who suffered abuse” at the school.
A BBC broadcaster, Nicky Campbell, admitted to having witnessed the sexual abuse of a fellow pupil at Edinburgh Academy, adding that Wares abused many more boys in the UK and South Africa.
“This openly abusive man has admitted to abusing children in the UK, and is currently fighting extradition from South Africa, where he has been publicly named,” Campbell said.
In a statement made to the police, Stephen reports that he was in Standard 5 (Grade 7) at Rondebosch Boys Prep in 1988 in Cape Town when he first encountered Ian Wares.
“Stephen was both physically and sexually abused by Mr Wares as a child. Tragically, he reports that the physical assault of small boys by adult men in power over them was commonplace, contributing to the secrecy by making assaulting children the norm,” he said.
Stephen is appealing to other men who may have been abused by Wares at Rondebosch Preparatory School to come forward and contact Women and Men Against Child Abuse.
“This horrific human being has gotten away with abusing boys for decades, and we will be strongly opposing bail, as he should be incarcerated already as he is a fugitive from the UK fighting extradition. He has been able to live his life with no accountability for the physical and sexual abuse he inflicted on young boys. All of this within a culture of open physical assaults on boys by men at the school who were meant to nurture them,” he said.
The Star