Cape Town -The NPA has welcomed the 15-year prison sentence handed to convicted paedophile Johannes Kleinhans by the Parow Regional Court in Cape Town on Tuesday.
“We are happy that the court agreed with us that the only appropriate sentence... was a lengthy prison sentence instead of the correctional supervision the defence asked for,” National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said in a statement.
“We are also happy that the court ordered for Kleinhans' name to be included in the national register of sex offenders.”
Ntabazalila said he hoped the families of the victims could find closure.
“We know that the 15-year sentence will never reverse what happened to the lives of the victims, but we hope their families will find closure knowing that he has paid for what he did to their children.”
Kleinhans was convicted on 95 counts which included sexual assaults on three pubescent girls over a period of two years, possession and the manufacture of child pornography, and the use of the girls for the manufacture of pornography.
Although no firearms were used in the commission of the offences, he was declared unfit to possess any firearms, in accordance with the Criminal Procedures Act.
This means that Kleinhans may no longer have in his possession a variety of firearms, including a hunting rifle that he inherited.
Kleinhans, 74, was prominent in business circles at the time of his arrest in 2009, held directorships in numerous companies and was the chief executive of one of them.
Magistrate Amanda van Leeve said all 95 counts related to the sexual exploitation of children. She said Kleinhans had hired a house which he stocked with liquor, pornography and condoms for his three victims.
He had equipped the house with gym equipment, to give the impression that the three victims, who visited the house regularly, were doing so for gym purposes.
The three girls were not his only victims, as Kleinhans, in his bail proceedings, had mentioned other victims who had not featured in the case, said Van Leeve.
She said photographs that Kleinhans had taken of the girls were not just of them in the nude, but many focused entirely on their privates.
Ntabazalila said Kleinhans had abused the most vulnerable in society and betrayed their trust in him. - Sapa