86-year-old 'sex pest' teacher loses bid to dismiss case

Former SA teacher, Iain Wares, who is wanted by UK authorities for 76 counts of sexual assault of young boys, has lost an application to have a Cape Town case discharged.

Wares, 86, who walks using a walking stick, heard that his Section 174 discharge application was unsuccessful in the Wynberg Regional Court on Thursday.

Magistrate Vanessa Miki said the State had enough evidence to proceed with the matter.

She said that while looking at the evidence, it didn't warrant for the case to be rejected and therefore dismissed and refused the application.

The application was brought by Ben Mathewson, Wares' lawyer, arguing that the State didn't have enough evidence to bring a prosecution and that the testimonies of two witnesses, that of the victim, lacked credibility.

The local case involves a male victim who came forward after nearly four decades.

Wares has since pleaded not guilty to the charge of indecent assault.

With his legal team, he is also appealing his extradition to Scotland where he is supposed to stand for his alleged crimes abroad, arguing for the Extradition Act to be declared inconsistent with the Constitution.

The responding parties brought their written and answering submissions and their notice to oppose the application earlier this year.

The local case involves a victim dubbed “Stephen”, who took the witness stand last year where he told of the indecent assault Wares allegedly inflicted on him.

The 47-year-old victim broke his silence claiming he was abused by Wares who was his teacher at Rondebosch Boys’ Preparatory during 1988.

Wares is accused of indecently assaulting the male victim by touching his buttocks and penis and rubbing his penis up against the victim.

The victim’s wife took the stand as the State closed its case, in which she revealed how her husband broke his silence after seeing Wares on television.

During her testimony, the woman, who cannot be identified, told the court that while they watched an episode of Carte Blanche in 2022, her husband revealed that it was his teacher who had abused him and did so by pointing to Wares who was on television.

Wares initially made a written affidavit of admissions to having inappropriate urges to touch boys and to sexually abusing them but it was retracted with the claim that he had been ill-advised by lawyers. 

In August 2024, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development said via a statement on the issue of extradition, that the application and supporting processes, in terms of the Extradition Act, 67 of 1962, were set in motion.

The extradition involves allegations by 42 former students of Wares in the UK who are all now beyond the age of 60, that the incidents of apparent sexual and physical abuse took place between the 1960s and 1970s at schools such as Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College.

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