Bond undecided for former charter school substitute charged with 9 counts of child sexual assault
Victims' families have now filed federal lawsuits against the school and the district
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — A former substitute teacher and after-school director found himself back in court on Wednesday for a bond hearing — after being accused of sexually assaulting children as young as seven-years-old.
On Tuesday, victims’ families filed federal lawsuits against Green Charter School of the Midlands and the South Carolina Public Charter School District.
Thirty-three-year-old Sulaymaan Benoit was initially arrested in February and charged with eight counts of third degree criminal sexual conduct — accused of touching three students between the ages of seven and 12-years-old, while on school grounds.
According to court records, he was released on bond in April, and then re-arrested in late October for a similar additional charge.
Three families now filing federal lawsuits against the school and the district — claiming they failed to protect the victims.
ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams spoke with the families’ representative, Attorney Bakari Sellers, about Benoit’s most recent charge.
Sellers explained how a mother of one of the victims discovered the abuse, saying, “While playing Fortnite there were conversations that should not have been going on that she overheard, and she began to ask her daughter questions about things going on in school, and did anybody touch you, and her daughter was able to let her know what happened to her.”
The school’s former principal, Tina Shaw, was also arrested in February for failing to report child abuse.
“We believe that she failed these young people, we believe the school district failed these young people and certainly Green Charter failed these young people,” says Sellers.
On Wednesday, Benoit’s attorney asked that he receive a $75,000 concurrent bond. The state’s attorney, however, requested that bond be denied.
“These victims are extremely young. I mean, these victims are individuals who have not had their tenth birthday yet. So do we want it to be quick? Yes. But we also recognize that this is a very troublesome case, and everybody deserves their day in court — including these victims,” says Sellers.
ABC Columbia News reached out to the school and the district for comment, but did not get a reply.
Judge Heath Taylor has yet to make a decision on bond for Benoit.
