Shaun Nick Bester - Cycling SA announcement

[DMJ]

I'm loving all the legal experts without law degrees... allow me to politely clarify:

He's been found *guilty* of all charges relating to grooming and sexual misconduct in a civil setting (i.e. on a balance of probabilities he is probably a sex offender and guilty of all civil charges).

This was following an extensive process where he was represented by lawyers throughout, including an appeal process. Bester is not a victim here! He has been found guilty whether you like it or not.

Whether the SAPS / NPA charges and convicts him of his crimes in a criminal court, with potential jail time, remains to be seen. But that is totally irrelevant to what I have stated above. Completely different processes! I applaud CSA for the openness and transparency!

Edited June 4 by DMJ
Typo

[Skubarra]

11 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

 I believe CSA should have kept the charges discreet and allowed the law to take its course. That’s my only interest  

You mean CSA should announce SNB is banned from coaching for 15 years on unspecified charges and won't be taking any questions on it? Or quietly ban him for 15 years without announcing anything to anyone and trust that he will abide by his ban and that this won't cause any confusion or problems down the line for anyone? Surely you can see the problems here with the alternatives or do you have a better solution in mind for CSA?

[Red Robin]

Taken me this long to remember my password. 

Not going into further details as school cycling community is relatively small. Feel sick about the whole thing.  Two brave souls came forward.  May they  heal as much as is possible from their ordeal. May those who could not find the strength to come forward also find healing. 

[dave303e]

23 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

Absolutely no vested interest in this gents innocence, or guilt for that matter. I just don’t like the lynch mob mentality that pervades in society, both online and in real life. I believe CSA should have kept the charges discreet and allowed the law to take its course. That’s my only interest  

if this does go further then his *** is booked as they say, assuming a guilty verdict is reached. By some quirk he is friends of friends on vleisboek and he has a good looking family, connected to a number of brands etc. 

According to the missive previously posted , the matter is being taken further. Let’s keep tabs on it if possible to see where it goes. 

I get the innocence part and keeping it discrete in case it is not true and allegations are false.

But I sit with a 16month old daughter. If someone is guilty it would concern me that they could have continued and found more innocent victims to prey on during the process.

You can't take back what happened to those young girls(if it did) and no prison sentence or anything will make it right. Someone's life could have been totally messed up because it was kept discrete. A lot can happen in a year.

 

[JAVSA02]

The Guardianship certification process has transparency as one of its principals. CSA is quite correctly following the principal of transparency, and, quite correctly, after, concluding their due process on the matter. 

Every parent of a young cyclist exposed to the structures within cycling teams, academies and schools for that matter, and who are being selected into teams to travel under the care of these structures, have the right to know. It's terrible, but unfortunately its out there, unfortunately, a reminder is sometimes needed.

For those that are unsure about what The Guardian Safeguarding course and certification entails, follow the link;

https://www.theguardian.co.za/

[SwissVan]

1 hour ago, IceCreamMan said:

Absolutely no vested interest in this gents innocence, or guilt for that matter. I just don’t like the lynch mob mentality that pervades in society, both online and in real life. I believe CSA should have kept the charges discreet and allowed the law to take its course. That’s my only interest  

if this does go further then his *** is booked as they say, assuming a guilty verdict is reached. By some quirk he is friends of friends on vleisboek and he has a good looking family, connected to a number of brands etc. 

According to the missive previously posted , the matter is being taken further. Let’s keep tabs on it if possible to see where it goes. 

Sidebar, not condoning harassment or grooming….or whatever happened here.

My wife and I have a very old and slight connection with the real deal Nick Bester of comrades fame, so I mentioned this case against his son to her last at dinner…. Her immediate response was “ nowdays it is so easy to be accused of these kind of things, you have to be really careful what you say and don’t touch anyone….”

Say it again, I’m not condoning or taking SNB actions / side

 

[IceCreamMan]

54 minutes ago, dave303e said:

I get the innocence part and keeping it discrete in case it is not true and allegations are false.

But I sit with a 16month old daughter. If someone is guilty it would concern me that they could have continued and found more innocent victims to prey on during the process.

You can't take back what happened to those young girls(if it did) and no prison sentence or anything will make it right. Someone's life could have been totally messed up because it was kept discrete. A lot can happen in a year.

 

You are absolutely correct. I get it. 
 

The other aspect not discussed here is that the lasses have the right to anonymity. Now, I am willing to wager that mr bester probably does not have many many clients and certainly less so for girls of this age. It’s quite possible that they are identified by their peers and others. There is a certain victim blaming element in society and these girls could be subjected to abuse, they probably already feel guilt to a certain extent. They deserve better. 
 

 

[IceCreamMan]

1 hour ago, Skubarra said:

You mean CSA should announce SNB is banned from coaching for 15 years on unspecified charges and won't be taking any questions on it? Or quietly ban him for 15 years without announcing anything to anyone and trust that he will abide by his ban and that this won't cause any confusion or problems down the line for anyone? Surely you can see the problems here with the alternatives or do you have a better solution in mind for CSA?

Yes. 

The term misconduct could be used or contravened their code. Just to be clear he probably could still coach but not under the organisational banners. He is still free to do as he pleases. CSA do not have the authority to ban him carte Blanche from coaching. 

[Cal Naughton Jr.]

1 hour ago, Red Robin said:

Taken me this long to remember my password. 

Not going into further details as school cycling community is relatively small. Feel sick about the whole thing.  Two brave souls came forward.  May they  heal as much as is possible from their ordeal. May those who could not find the strength to come forward also find healing. 

I’d like to hop on this comment to distract from the Suits binge-watchers.

That’s a wonderful sentiment, Robin. I applaud those two girls for their courage and bravery which has spared more potential victims (and all the associated collateral damage to families). Bear in mind that in addition to the offenses, the victims and their families have been dealing with the fallout of reporting it since February of last year. We won’t ever know if there are other victims, but may all involved see justice and healing. Secondary to this, it’s commendable that CSA’s whistleblowing and disciplinary structures worked.

[Barry]

22 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

Yes. 

The term misconduct could be used or contravened their code. Just to be clear he probably could still coach but not under the organisational banners. He is still free to do as he pleases. CSA do not have the authority to ban him carte Blanche from coaching. 

Yes he would be free to coach but not under CSA. Does he still keep the UCI level 4 qualification or does it fall away with the ban? His sponsors have not reacted to the ban and he is still listed as an ambassador on sponsors sites. So I am guessing it will be business as usual in 6 months. 

[Red Robin]

30 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

You are absolutely correct. I get it. 
 

The other aspect not discussed here is that the lasses have the right to anonymity. Now, I am willing to wager that mr bester probably does not have many many clients and certainly less so for girls of this age. It’s quite possible that they are identified by their peers and others. There is a certain victim blaming element in society and these girls could be subjected to abuse, they probably already feel guilt to a certain extent. They deserve better. 
 

 

 He was the high school coach for the mtb team.  The abuse of  a position of power and trust was horrendous. Agree with you, they deserve better.  

[Red Robin]

4 minutes ago, Barry said:

Yes he would be free to coach but not under CSA. Does he still keep the UCI level 4 qualification or does it fall away with the ban? His sponsors have not reacted to the ban and he is still listed as an ambassador on sponsors sites. So I am guessing it will be business as usual in 6 months. 

Not sure if a sponsor but Vye  has already reacted and put out a notice. Saw it yesterday on FB. 

[PygaSchmyga]

whatever happens, like the rabbit in Snatch, he's proper f###ed, Turkish

[DieselnDust]

32 minutes ago, Barry said:

Yes he would be free to coach but not under CSA. Does he still keep the UCI level 4 qualification or does it fall away with the ban? His sponsors have not reacted to the ban and he is still listed as an ambassador on sponsors sites. So I am guessing it will be business as usual in 6 months. 

The UCI accreditation will fall away. The license is first underwritten by CSA and then the UCI. He won't be able to coach a pensioners Curling team with the suspension in effect

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, IceCreamMan said:

Absolutely no vested interest in this gents innocence, or guilt for that matter. I just don’t like the lynch mob mentality that pervades in society, both online and in real life. I believe CSA should have kept the charges discreet and allowed the law to take its course. That’s my only interest  

This could have been announced in Feb 2023. Instead discretion was used and SNB was given a "fair hearing", and an appeal on that. He has had all the protection you are looking for.

Put yourself in the shoes of a hypothetical father who contracted him to coach his promising 15year old daughter at the beginning of the 2024 school year. I think you'll find him wanting the public statement after the first report or the first hearing at least. 

There's a reason we have something like this, but I'm really not sure how much it is used. 

https://www.justice.gov.za/vg/nrso.html

Going purely on the excellent My Only Story podcast season 2, it would seem that it has been very easy for an offender to move to another town and abuse children at a new school.

[shaper]

10 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

The UCI accreditation will fall away. The license is first underwritten by CSA and then the UCI. He won't be able to coach a pensioners Curling team with the suspension in effect

Yet he seems to have already put a plan in place to be fronted by his wife to continue the coaching according to that statement posted earlier in this thread.