Photographer jailed for child rape

File photo: Puamelia/Flickr.com

File photo: Puamelia/Flickr.com

Published Sep 16, 2015

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Kimberley - A Kimberley photographer found guilty on charges of child rape and the manufacturing of child pornography has been sentenced to 24 years behind bars.

Rudolf Coetzee pleaded guilty to more than 40 charges, including three of raping minors, and numerous counts of manufacturing and distributing child pornography.

Coetzee was arrested at his home photographic studio in the Kimberley suburb of Heuwelsig in June last year.

Police confiscated a memory stick containing thousands of pictures of nude and semi-naked children.

The three rape charges stemmed from photographs in which Coetzee was engaging in sexual acts with children of both sexes.

In some cases, parents had unsuspectingly allowed their children to be photographed while they waited outside as Coetzee persuaded them he worked better without them.

But, he was later exposed and arrested after a girl informed her parents about what had happened in the studio.

The Democratic Alliance welcomed the sentence, but said that “it could have been more severe, given the multitude of crimes that Mr. Coetzee committed. His victims were innocent children who

were raped, abused and preyed on”.

DA Provincial Spokesperson on Gender, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Safiyia Stanfley said: “We call on the courts in general to send a strong message against any abuse of any child. We need courts to show that there will be punishment for any predator.”

African News Agency

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