As a Cape Town modelling agency boss returns to court today for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl, the victim says her dreams of being a model have been destroyed.
Nicholas Maré, 50, was arrested last Wednesday, and has been charged with rape, sexual assault, the creation of child porn and the sexual exploitation of children in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court.
The teen from Eerste River told the Daily Voice she believed her dreams were coming true when she got her first photoshoot with Maré, but instead, she was left traumatised after being forced to engage in humiliating sex acts for nearly six hours in his studio.
The teen says she contacted Tariro Model Management in Loop Street in May and asked whether they thought she was a suitable candidate.
She was asked to send full-length photographs and Maré arranged a meeting with her and her mother at his studio.
SPOTLIGHT: Tariro Model Management
Her 45-year-old mother says she met with Maré on two occasions and he seemed trustworthy.
On 24 June, her mother went to sign a new work contract in the Cape Town CBD and the teen was scheduled for her first photoshoot.
“I was only supposed to be away for two hours and I told Nicholas to let her go to a nearby church where she would be safe,” the distraught mom says.
“He kept her there at the studio until I got back, but I thought she was safe.”
The girl says as the photoshoot commenced, Maré immediately grabbed her bum, pushed her up against a wall and started thrusting against her.
She says he stuck his hands under her bra and down her pants and forced her to masturbate him.
“I told him to please stop and I was scared. He stopped and let me sit down and told me to open my eyes. I didn’t want to because I knew he was still masturbating,” the meisie says.
DREAM CRUSHED: The Eerste River girl, 14, was ‘sexually attacked by a modelling agency boss’
The teen says Maré told her she needed to “get comfortable” with him.
He allegedly photographed the child while continuing to masturbate and ejaculated on the floor of the studio.
“He told me I am his best model and I must get used to it because he gets horny around me and not even his wife made him so horny. I didn’t know what to do,” the teen says.
She says over the next six hours, Maré made her undress and put on various outfits as he took pictures, masturbated and inserted his fingers in her vagina.
He also allegedly encouraged her to watch porn.
The girl says at home, she told her older sister about her ordeal.
When hearing the news, their shocked mother immediately went to the police.
“The medical report said that the hymen was still intact, but there were scratch marks from his nails,” says the mom.
CASE: Nicholas Maré’s, 50, bail hearing continues today
The Daily Voice contacted Tariro for comment, but brand manager Kaylon Lotz declined.
She said Maré’s wife should be contacted, but when asked for the details, Lotz retorted: “Go find it yourself.” Maré is being held at Pollsmoor Prison and his bail hearing continues today.