THE KZN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WELCOMES THE SENTENCE OF CONVICTED
RAPIST GODDARD
The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal welcomes the sentencing of former school
counsellor, Darren Goddard, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a boy and will
start serving his life sentence today.
He was sentenced earlier in the day by Judge Kate Pillay. His advocate, Shane Matthews, then
applied for leave to appeal the sentence and convictions. He also applied to the court for his bail
to be extended.
Judge Pillay refused to extend his bail but granted him permission to apply for leave to appeal to
the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
Goddard was convicted in March last year on seven counts of sexual assault, including one of
rape, as well as one charge of accessing and being in possession of child pornography, dating
from 2012 to 2016, when he was employed as a school counsellor at a Pietermaritzburg primary
school.
He was found to have abused and betrayed his victims’ trust, by using them for his own sexual
gratification.
“As a caring Government we place our trust in our educators and counsellors to carry out their
duties with dignity and respect. Our community expect a high level of morality within the law. We
as a Department welcome the sentence and will not allow our learners to be abused,” added MEC
Frazer.
