Man faces 718 child porn charges

Published Dec 8, 2016

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Johannesburg – A 40-year-old Kempton Park man is facing 718 charges relating to child pornography, some of which include performing sexual acts on children and coercing them to perform similar acts on him.

According to the indictment, the man also videoed himself masturbating and forced the children of his lovers to watch.

In the video material there are children who could not be identified. The acts of abuse are believed to have taken place between 2012 and 2015.

Two girls who have been identified, aged five and 17 respectively, were allegedly abused while he lived with them and their mothers.

Some material also includes thousands of images of the girls’ genitalia as well as sexual acts being performed on them. There are several video clips of various sexual acts being committed on the children.

The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identities of the children, used an international instant messenger app, where he went by the user name “iamtheapeman”. It is believed he shared some of this pornographic material on the social networking site with other users who are part of a child pornography ring. He was arrested in September 2015 after the police were alerted to his activities in the chat group.

In a pre-trial hearing at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, he was the face of calm, even joking occasionally with court police.

The tall, muscular man listened attentively as his matter was discussed by State prosecutor advocate Riana Williams and Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng. His defence, Anton Lerm, was also present.

It was decided that he should remain in custody until his matter is heard in the high court in Joburg on January 30.

The Star

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