By Shaun Gillham
SOUTH African tennis legend Bob Hewitt, who now lives in Addo, is at the centre of an international sex scandal in which he is being accused of sexually abusing several young girls during his heyday as a global tennis star.
Allegations of sexual abuse against the former doubles Grand Slam champion and television commentator have emerged with one of his accusers, who alleges she was sexually molested by Hewitt at the age of nine, telling Weekend Post she was willing to lay charges against him and that she wanted him to “pay for what he had done”.
Hewitt, 71, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992 and was also renowned as a coach, allegedly abused four young tennis students during the 1970s while he was still playing professionally.
In a telephone call to Weekend Post on Thursday (September 2), Hewitt claimed he was unaware of the allegations and said he did not wish to discuss them.
“I only want to apologise if I offended anyone in any way,” he said. “I have had a long, good career which I enjoyed. I do not want to end my career like this. I have had a stroke, have heart problems and am on medication. My wife is also ill. I just want to apologise to anyone I have ever offended,” Hewitt said.
He added he had “coached all ages from as young as four or five to 73 and I endeavoured to help them all. I enjoyed making a difference”. He said he had spent “my last few years in the Eastern Cape, ending as president of EP junior tennis”.
His son, Turner Hewitt, who lives and runs a citrus-related transport business in the Addo area where his father bought and successfully operated two citrus farms, expressed shock at the accusations.
“This is rubbish. I am not aware of any of these claims and the period you are talking about was before I was even born. I know my father and he would not do anything like this,” Turner said. He claimed Hewitt was currently overseas.
When Weekend Post visited Hewitt’s home, Siyatheba, situated among groves of citrus trees which he has sold to a co-op, an unidentified woman said through the intercom she was house-sitting his pets and that he had gone to Australia. She also claimed Hewitt had Alzheimer’s disease.
Weekend Post’s probe into the allegations was sparked by a six-month investigation by the Boston Globe newspaper in America and which was published last week. In the report allegations of sexual abuse were made by one of the alleged victims in America.
While rumours around Hewitt’s alleged behaviour are believed to have circulated at the height of his career, no charges were thoroughly investigated or laid.
To date, four women – two of whom claimed to have had intercourse with Hewitt while legally under age – have come forward with allegations. Two of the accusers, one of whom last year filed a complaint with Topsfield police in Massachusetts, live in America and the other two live in South Africa.
According to Boston Globe journalist Bob Hohler, who visited Addo earlier this year and claimed to have approached Hewitt in the village over the allegations, one of the alleged victims, Heather Conner (previously Crowe) claimed Hewitt had approached her on his first day of teaching at a club in Danvers in America when she was just 14 and offered to teach her for free.
According the Globe report, which was published on Sunday, Conner alleged Hewitt harassed her and then had sex with her in 1976 after she had just turned 15 – which under Massachusetts state is regarded as statutory rape.
According to Connor, Hewitt allegedly had sex with her after driving her home from babysitting his daughter and making a detour at a nearby school. Conner claimed Hewitt also had sex with her on several other occasions, one incident occurring weeks before he became the oldest man, at the time nearly 38, to win a US Open doubles title.
Suellen Sheehan, 42, the office manager for the Johannesburg-based South African Golf Association, claims she was approached by Hewitt when she was just nine and that he had sexually harassed her, as well as her friend and another accuser Gina Read, now 42 and also of Johannesburg.
Read, who made the allegations along with Sheehan, Conner and American Nicole Gold, also 42, could not be reached for comment. But Sheehan told Weekend Post this week: “What happened has messed up my life. I did not have sex with him but I was definitely abused. Speaking out now is helping a lot. I suppressed a lot of this, but now more and more is coming back to me.
“He should be held accountable for what he has done. I did not know this also happened to Gina and only found out recently that she went through the same thing,” Sheehan said. “I’m very happy to press charges and see this through. If I do this I might be able to help others who go through similar things.”
Sheehan said the alleged abuse had “destroyed” her life and relationships. “This affected my marriage. I was married for three months and then my marriage fell apart. Looking back now, I realise that because of what happened, I missed out on growing up in a normal way,” she said.
But the tight-knit Addo, Hermitage and Sunland community rallied around the former sports star this week, expressing disbelief at the allegations.
At the Elephant House in Addo a woman shouted at the Weekend Post team and accusing the paper of attempting to destroy the Hewitt family.
Zinon Lambrou, who works at the Africanos Restaurant, described Hewitt as “a very nice guy” and said he did not believe the allegations. “He is like a second father to me. I met them over 25 years ago. Bob and his wife are great,” said Lambrou.
As a doubles tennis player, Hewitt beat teams led by the likes of Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. He had often partnered the only other South African inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Frew McMillan.
Hewitt had won all of the Grand Slam doubles titles – both the Men’s Doubles Grand Slam titles as well as the Mixed Doubles Grand slam titles.
(This article originally appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday, September 3, 2011.)
I am an attorney in Massachusetts (USA) that is making a preliminary investigation into Hewitt’s conduct. I would be happy to speak to other victims or those with knowledge of the events.
-tyler fox, esq.
I am a victim.
Dear Heather, thank you for getting in touch. If you would like me to pass your details on to the attorney who posted on our site earlier this week that he is looking into the various cases, let me know and I will send your contact details to him. You can mail me your contact details on liebenbergl@avusa.co.za or post them here (I won’t approve them for everyone to see). I appreciate that you have come forward; I can imagine it must have been a difficult time. Kind regards, Louise Liebenberg, Assistant Editor: Weekend Post
This is very, very said indeed. It is sad when heros fall. I ball boyed for Bob Hewitt when he played a tournament in Rondebosch, Cape Town, in 1976.
But I do hope that this whole thing is not blown out of proportion and become a witch hunt. The press must make sure of the true facts. Unfortunately, it seems like the press have done their research and a lot of what they are writing is probably true
“blown out of proportion?” how far blown out of proportion is putting your penis in an 11 year old’s mouth?
it is a witch hunt….the press have not done their homework………like i have said before, go back and read previous articles…even in this one, sheehan claims no rape and in an article 3 months later its rape……come on
THIS MAKES ME SICK TO MY STOMACH!!!!!
I TRUELLY HOPE MORE WOMAN COME FORWARD!!!
ITS VERY EASY FOR TURNER TO REFUSE TO BELIEVE
THIS OF HIS FATHER!!! HOW WOULD THEY ALL FEEL AS A
FAMILY IF THIS WAS HIS SISTER AND DAUGHTER!!!
AS YOU ALL KNOW MONEY HAS ALWAYS MADE THEM FEEL
SO ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE!!!BOB APPOLOGIZING GUILTY!!
I have known the Hewitt family for many many years and they are a great family, and i know that they stand behind BOB 100% like i do. Bob also NEVER apologised, it was taken out of context, as all reporters only write sensationalism.
All women that suddenly come forward after twenty-five years or any time romotely close should find another issue to come and ‘jump on the bandwagon” and leave Bob Hewitt alone. If this were my sister, daughter or relative I would tell her she was in idiot for not reporting the matter to the police immediately if it actually happened which is questionable let alone almost unproveable.
THANKYOU
I HAVE NO MORE TOSAY
A question: Why wait so long to confront this problem and to tackle Bob? And 2) Bob is a gentleman and that is what he would have done “apologise” if he had upset anyone. It is not to show his guilt but rather his manner.
You sound foolish. It often takes people who are abused years sometimes decades to talk about it. It some cases it never comes out. 1) People like you make them feel guilty when in fact they are the victim!
Gentleman? please.
Marjorie, if you know Bob the way i do you wont be making accusations the way you are doing. If only the news papers will post the correct wording that has been spoken. Money has NEVER made Bob and his family feel above anyone else so please get your facts straight!!
I agree Fluffy.
I have been quoted twice in the media – and BOTH times I was misquoted. We have to be very careful we don’t believe what we read in the media.
Bob Hewitt is a good man and I agree – if people knew him the way I do too – they wouldn’t be making these accusations!
This son needs to realize it DOES happen! I am a survivor of Sexual Abuse and its people you don’t realize!
Scorpio, one might ask, why has Hewitt hidden this awfulness for so long?
And, I have to say, an apology is nowhere near enough for raping young girls. A true gentleman would take responsibility and turn himself into the authorities.
i don’t really care if Bob has alzheimers or terminal cancer. if he did this, he should be tried and imprisoned for the remainder of his life. there are too many victims surfacing now for this to not be believable. as for the victims only bringing this up now for money. ridiculous! no amount of money can compensate them for the trauma that has been inflicted upon them. the bottom line is if he did this, he is a pedophile and a repeat offender. there is no more heinous crime than that.
Just watched HBO Real Sports;shame on the Tennis Association. Shame.
Just because someone maintains a “gentlemanly” public personal does not mean they are incapable of engaging in horrendous acts behind closed doors.
This is why there is so many broken people in this world. He should burn with the rest of them.
Hewitt should spend the rest of his days in prison.
26 years to come out, he said she said, maybe it happened maybe it did not, this is going to be hard to prove after all these years. If this happens to any one the best is to report it right there and then. Do not ruin lives 26 years later for sensational reporting.
Agreed. It’s fashionable in today’s “lawsuit prone society” to make outrageous accusations against people long after the alleged events took place. If these so called “victums” were so damaged they should have had the guts to report the abuse in a timely manner. There should be a statute of limitations imposed for this kind of absurd behavior and investigation which serves no purspose at this time but to ruin a man’s life and reputation.
Dear Bob F – You obviously do not have an Idea what it is like to be abused as a child, by a person that you look up to. It takes you years if not decades to make sense of it all. How can this person you look up to do these things. And it gets worse and worse as you grow older. I still struggle after 24 years after being abused by a teacher at school – I thought he was a really nice guy before. Please don’t talk about “Guts” and “ruining lives”, rather think of the victims. 4 unrelated women on different continents came to light with their separate experiences. I agree that this should have happened sooner – so that his reputation could have been ruined a long time ago!
he “said” and 4 unrelated she’s on different continents “said”! one against four. I was molested by a teacher at school, and I was too “chicken” to talk about it so then he did it to other boys as well. It is now 23 years later, but it does not go away.
I am still a great believer Not Guilty till proven in a court of law, not in any news paper and court of opinion. I was molested a llong time back and I reported it that day to my family and the person got 45 days and 5 years probation. Was I happy no, justice failed me. But I still believe in it,
It is stated that the girls did not come forward. Some did. Their parents tried to do “something”. They were then told they would be taken to the cleaners. Our justice system let us down. Here is a FACT. The police officer who took Twiggy Tolken’s statement in 1979 has come forward saying he remembers the day.
Children are the innocent victims and these girls have had to live with this horror for 26 years, ashamed and frightened, it sickens me to my stomach. I hope he gets what he deserves.
Leave Turner out of this! Obviously he loves his father very much! Turner went to school with us and is a very nice guy. Playing tennis myself and meeting uncle Bob was an honour! He never did something to me nor my fellow tennis playing mates! Will you believe this about your father?
@ Kel, I hear what you are saying, it is difficult to prove so long after the event but if it has taken 26 years for the victims to find the courage to come forward they are the ones whose lives have been ruined. Where there’s smoke……..
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too many victims for it not to be true….your days are numbered Bob Hewitt.
OK……..maybe I should wait 25 years and get few people to say that you sexually molested me………..that would make it all true………..right!
If you live in a glass house do not throw stones.Those of you who have never been molested should keep quiet, not that i ever was, but paedophiles should be treated like murderers, throw them in jail and throw away the key. The world is in shambles because these scumbags are allowed to get away with murder under the pretext of ‘it was a long time ago’ He is Mr nice guy etc. Show me a paedophile who is not Mr nice guy? This man should be investigated and the full course of the law should be enforced regardless of his standing in society. This boys’ club mentality should come to an end.
How could normal girls get so hurt when they had the perfect opportunity to meet a celeb. it shows you can’t trust anyone.
That’s right………except for me!
For the women who got hurt really badly by this guy…..it makes me sick to say his name. Just because he has an illness, doesn’t mean now, what happened to you ladies a long time ago can’t be fixed now
OK……but the critical question is how do we know anything really happened at all after 25 years waiting to report it!
Then why do all the ladies, have the same story.
OK here is how it works. One woman makes a claim after twenty-five years. Then others decide that it’s nice to “jump on the bandwagon”. It’s the same thing as when some psycho decides to shoot college students. Then there is suddenly a rash of similar shootings as it’s the fashionable thing to do!
yes they all felt shame at the same time, and had to get their story out after 26 years, smells fishy
Right……….it stinks!
for sure is he not out of the country and he is 100 %….why is he hiding from the world !!! these people who make comments about why after 25 years…..well, they dont have a clue…paedofiles know just how to manipulate…and its normally the people you will NEVER expect, paedofiles kill your spirit…they could rather kill you…and ALSO get life sentence…its so much more than a sexual act….and I hope he rots in jail and I know he will rot in hell! have you asked the question – why would any woman want the publicity about being raped when you are 40 years old…what would you get out of it…it takes the world of guts to come forward…and its about time…this country and other countries wakes up !!! and kids dont know – you can ONLY go to the police station – and make a case….and the police have to fight and protect you – because its a criminal act !!! I am an educated person and I also only found that out recently….always thought I need lots of money and a lawyer !!!!! that message should be made known !!!!
I don’t care if you think the women waited so long to report the thing. Still the question is why it happened to several girls, it’s different if you get raped once. But not over and over, then it wouldn’t be such a big thing. It’s like he wasted the women’s life
So how long should someone be allowed to report a crime? What is the statute of limitations for evidently there is none here. This means anyone can say anything about anyone at any time in the distant future with criminal ramifications. Whether or not the complainant acted responsibly or made the whole thing up is irrelevant according to you!
Like I said if someone gets raped, it takes a long time for them to get over it. So they, when they ready, can report it.
Another loose canon………like a World War II bomb laying around for 65 years that hasn’t gone off yet!
We don’t know why the girls were raped, and we don’t know why they took so long to report it. We know they were scared. But if their parents knew about it, Bob could have been in prison or something like that. But we are discussing something that they can only fix.
OK………I see the reasoning: “if I could a woulda – shoulda- dona”. You can say that about anything!
Bob F, jump into the sea, then drown. You not a girl, you don’t know how it can hurt a young girl.
Everything hurts………..but that’s not the point. If you’re wealthy or a famous moviesstar or celebrity you can probably get away with murder if you have the right attorney. We can debate your point about injury for the next ten thousand years. My point is where do you draw the line on the time limit to prosecute these cases which may or may not be legitimate?
A paedophile…is a sick person…they never get cured…and that is proven..over and over…why should he be exposed to any other children…people that know about these crimes and dont do anything about it should also go to jail…just like when you know about a murder and did not do it…
These girls’ lives are a testimony of rape victims…what more do you want to hear…it never goes away…never…i was raped from the age of 4 to 16…it never goes away…
as you say the person never gets cured so obviously i should have been a victim already, but clearly i am not. you must get your facts straight and see the light! this whole thing is going to blow up in your faces, u will see!!!
Bob F – your answer is – the same time line that you have with a murder case….no difference…
You just dont have a clue…sound like Bob himself !
I hope Suellen gets a lot of people to sign her petition, to get Bob Hewitt off the hall of fame!!!
Right………my point is that there should be a time line statute of limitations to file sexual harassment cases.
teddy you clearly do not have a life, you do not know both stories so do not judge!!!! its not for us as humans to judge but for the Lord on Judgement day!
OK…….I knew that sooner or later someone would bring GOD into this mess. I believe in Jean Paul Sarte’s philosophy…..act as you want but accept the consequences of your actions………now “praise the Lord and Hallaluhah!”.
Sam. I don’t care what you say, you suck like your words suck
The hall of fame has nothing to do this …..he was inducted on his tennis achievements, which were and always will be great…………….Do a bit of research, there is 1 tennis player, passed away now who was inducted into the hall of fame and served time in prison for molesting boys….HE WAS SENT TO PRISON….this is just an accusation against hewitt…………There is also a guy in the baseball hall of fame, also SERVED jail time….come one….do your home work before you make dumb comments………..
When I was a kid I had a coach from South Africa with the same issues…..lesson….don’t let your kids alone with a man, however trusted and respected. It seems that when coaches start to take on the parental role as well you open the door to potential problems.
C.S. name him/her ……. do not hide from it. Looks like my country has coach paedophile issues amen
teddy you clearly have no respect. What in life have you achieved? Mr Hewitt is in the Tennis Hall of Fame for his achivements, and deserves to be. Bob Hewitt is a good man!!!
Why do people want to drag famous people through the mud? Are they jealous of the ‘tall poppy’?
I have known Bob Hewitt personally for over 50 years and I don’t believe any of these allegations.
Bob Hewitt has a heart to help others and would never engage in any of this type of behaviour he is accused of.
I can’t believe the small mindedness of people who are trying to destroy a man who has done so much for tennis.
Bob Hewitt IS a good man.
Dawn…really…wake up and see the light! You have not known Bob Hewitt personally for over 50 years! You do not know him at all!
I can’t believe in your small mindedness! People are not trying to destroy a man; he destroyed himself. They are merely seeking justice!
Kelvin Brink…I just got your reply. I will have to admit that it is a terrifying think to think of naming him. But you are right, I need to pray for more boldness….
To suddenly come out with abuse stories 30 -35 years later and still be able to make a case of it should not be allowed.
Thank you. Another rare person on this blog with some common sense.
Yeah well….I was molested as well…My own Grandpa…and guess what? I kept quiet as well for 25 years. And nobody could believe it…because he was a GOOD man!!!
Whatever you say!
To the Bob H supporters…..to be able to live without any justice and do what he (allegedly) did for all these years should not be allowed. Nobody realised how many girls were out there. Once one spoke, the rest then realised they were not alone. The Hall of Fame credentials read: “A distinguished record of competitive achievement at the highest international level, with consideration given to integrity, sportsmanship and character.” Raping girls goes against integrity and character!
Hewitt’s sporting team mate, Ray Moore commented on his lack of sportsmanship, as well as insulting comments he made about women.
With regards to those who made the comments made about “women jumping on the bandwagon from different countries around the world: stop being so naive! Ask yourself….
1. Why on earth would these women make something like this up? Perhaps they only have the courage to speak up now, knowing they have support.
2. Why are you dismissing comments made by Hewitt’s old friends and team mates? They have made it blatantly clear that they knew about the types of things he was doing. Read the petition.
3. Why would a credible American TV show (HBO) document the stories of these girls?
To all Hewitt supporters…..pull your heads out of the sand! The truth always comes out! For example: How do you explain away the police verified letters written by Hewitt to a young girl?
C’mon people! Stop pretending Hewitt is a good man.
Fine……..you’re right! Maybe I should wait 25 years, find some people that are nuts to support me and go to the cops and say you raped me? Just in case you did’nt know witnesses and “alleged” victums lie to the cops all the time just to get publicity and the garbage that you see on HBO is there for one reason……to entertain you and get them ratings! “Wake up and smell the coffee”!