Mum frustrated by lack of progress in son’s sexual grooming case

 

The mother told FMT she was disturbed by the content of WhatsApp messages which her son received from his former basketball coach in November last year. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

A mother has voiced frustration over the lack of progress in an alleged sexual grooming case involving a former national basketball player who coached at her son’s school in the Klang Valley.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said she was disturbed by the content of WhatsApp messages sent by the coach to her son and a student group chat last November.

Alarmed, she immediately reported the incident to the school, leading to the coach’s sacking. She also filed a police report last December.

“I’ve been messaging the lead inspector, asking for an update (on the case), but I haven’t heard anything,” she said.

The district police chief did not immediately respond to FMT’s request for comment.

Disturbing patterns of grooming

The mother said she felt compelled to speak out after learning the coach had recently been hired by another school.

“I couldn’t just let this go. He’s still around children, and that’s not right,” she said.

In her interview with FMT, she described disturbing behaviour in the coach’s messages to her son, which allegedly included emotional manipulation and inappropriate conversations about sexuality.

“I started from the beginning of the conversation in the one-on-one chat and then I saw it clearly, normalising gay sex and relationships, lying and deception, and tons of gaslighting,” she said.

She also claimed the coach paired children as “couples” in the group chat and created polls for others to vote “yes” or “no” on the pairings.

“In some instances, it was the coach and the child. In one instance, it was the coach and my son,” she said.

She further alleged that the coach took a particular interest in her son, even before joining his basketball club.

She said what was supposed to be training sessions twice a week quickly turned into daily meetings, and she was unsure if other students were present at these sessions.

“That’s when I started to feel uneasy. After two weeks, I sat my son down and asked, ‘Do you know what grooming looks like? Do you know what paedophilia is?’

“My child knew it was bad but didn’t realise that it was actually happening (to him) until I helped him connect the dots,” she said. - FMT