A Nelson Mandela Bay councillor is at the centre of a sexual assault investigation into lewd remarks made towards a minor child, allegedly asking the boy if he could see his private parts.
Bay FF Plus councillor Bill Harrington is accused of asking the 11-year-old boy if he was involved in prostitution, commenting on his physique and then asking to see his genitals.
The alleged encounter occurred on Friday, while the boy was alone at a Newton Park garden flat where he lives with his mother.
Approached for comment, Harrington said the allegation was untrue.
“I was not contacted by any police officer,” he said.
The boy’s mother, meanwhile, said the ordeal had unsettled them, leaving her son traumatised.
As a result, they were looking for a new place to live as her son was too afraid to return to their home.
“That man had no business [allegedly] asking my son such questions.
“My son is a happy boy with a bubbly personality, but since that man visited him he has been quiet and having bad dreams.
“He refuses to come home, and is currently staying with his grandmother.
“He says he is fine, but I know my son and this ordeal has scarred him deeply,” the upset mother said on Wednesday.
The woman is not being named to protect the identity of her son.
The police, meanwhile, confirmed that a case of sexual assault had been reported to the Mount Road police station and was under investigation.
The alleged incident occurred at about 1.30pm on Friday.
The boy and his mother live in a garden flat, behind a house that is rented out as student accommodation.
Harrington apparently went to the main house first, where he confronted the students about noise complaints from the neighbouring properties.
He then went to the garden flat where the boy was alone while his mother was at work.
The 11-year-old heard a knock on the door. He had just climbed out of the shower and only had a towel wrapped around his waist when he opened the door.
Harrington was said to have asked him if his mother was home, and after the boy said his mother was at work, the councillor allegedly asked: “Are you in the business of selling bodies?”
Allegedly confused and uncomfortable, the boy shook his head.
Harrington then allegedly told him “you have a nice body” and asked him to remove the towel and show his private parts.
The boy immediately left the flat and went to the main house to seek help.
One of the students then phoned his mother and told her what had allegedly happened.
“I received the phone call at 1.36pm.
“At first I did not recognise the number, but when I answered I heard it was one of the students who lives in our yard,” the mother said.
“She told me that Harrington had been with my son, asking him all these questions. My son was hysterical.
“The councillor was in my home without permission.
“I immediately went home to find out what had happened.”
By the time she arrived, Harrington had left and she found her son crying and shaking.
The student gave her the business card Harrington had left behind and she phoned him.
“He told me he never said that, but that he had rather asked my son if I was involved in prostitution.
“He said neighbours had been complaining about the noise at the house and that all kinds of men were frequenting the property.
“I told him he had no business confronting my son like that and going through my house, and if he had any questions he should have asked for my number and phoned me.”
They subsequently reported the matter to the police.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu confirmed that a case of sexual assault was registered at the Mount Road police station, with the investigation under way.
One of the students living on the premises, who did not want to be named, confirmed that Harrington had been at the house to inform them about the noise complaints.
“He said if there were any more complaints he would bring the Metro Police to our house.
“He left his business card and I went back inside.
“Minutes later there was another knock on the door.
“When I opened, the boy was standing there in a towel.
“He was shaking and he was tearing up. He told me what the man had [allegedly] told him.
“We asked the councillor why he was asking the boy such questions, and he said he was talking about the boy’s mother.
“We took pictures of him as he drove off,” the student said.
The boy’s mother said she had never met Harrington and hardly knew who he was before Friday.
“My son has no reason to lie about a man he has never met.
“Harrington had no business coming to my house like that and speaking to my son.
“He went into my house uninvited. Who does he think he is?”
Since the incident, the boy has been living with his grandmother in New Brighton and refuses to return home.
The mother said he hardly even played outside any more, and had been having bad dreams and talking in his sleep about going to the police.
“This thing hurt my son badly. He says he is fine, but he is just trying to be brave.
“I am in the process of arranging counselling for him.
“If he refuses to come home, we will probably have to move house,” she said.
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