Coach betrayed 60 kids. Now he’s locked up 15 years.
A trusted eMalahleni soccer coach who built his life around the beautiful game has been sent to prison for 15 years after a court found he sexually assaulted, exploited and groomed three boys aged 8, 11 and 13.
Edwin Sipho Soko, 43, was sentenced in the eMalahleni Regional Court to five years on each of three groups of charges: sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual grooming. The offences happened between September and October 2023.
Soko had coached since 2000 and ran his own team of about 60 players. The community trusted him. He bought a taxi to ferry the kids. He was seen as the man keeping boys off the streets and away from drugs. The victims liked having him as their coach.
The court said he used that trust for himself.
The boys were left with serious emotional and psychological harm. Anger. School trouble. A broken ability to trust adults.
Soko denied everything. He claimed the boys were not even on his team. He showed no remorse and took no responsibility, the court found.
He has one prior conviction: driving without a licence.
The magistrate stressed children’s constitutional rights to dignity and protection from abuse. These victims were among society’s most vulnerable. Their coach was the one who broke that protection.
Soko was declared unfit to own a firearm and placed on the National Register for Sex Offenders. He is banned from working with children.
A man who sold himself as a guardian of the game is now a convicted child sex offender.
