Copyright postandcourier
IRMO — A former charter school teacher is back in jail after police said another child accused him of sexually abusing her while she was enrolled at the school. Sulaymaan Benoit is accused of sexually assaulting an after-school student at Green Charter Schools of the Midlands sometime between August 2023 and May 2024, Irmo police said in a news release. At the time, he was employed as its after-school director and a substitute teacher. Benoit, 33, was arrested Oct. 28 on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor younger than 11. He remained at the Richland County jail as of that evening. His new criminal case comes eight months after Irmo police initially arrested him Feb. 26 on eight counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. It stemmed from complaints that he’d sexually assaulted three other students ages 7 to 12 sometime between October 2024 and January 2025. The school principal, Tina Shaw, was also arrested in February on allegations that she failed to report child abuse at the school. Days later, the school administration said it stood by Shaw and was commissioning a third-party investigation. Civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers, who is representing the latest child victim to come forward, accused the charter school of sheltering an abuser. “Sulaymaan Benoit was the monster who assaulted this survivor. But it was Green Charter School of the Midlands whose neglect and failure enabled Sulaymaan Benoit,” Sellers said in a statement. “Nothing can make up for what my client and her family have had to live through and the nightmares they will live with the rest of their lives.”
