A professional diver is facing a string of charges in connection with his alleged involvement in an international child pornography ring.
The 39-year-old, from the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, who is out on bail, stands accused of almost 300 counts of possession of child pornography as well as allegedly sexually assaulting one of his two daughters and using both of them for child pornography.
The man, who cannot be named in order to protect his children, who are 3 and 5, appeared briefly in the Port Shepstone Regional Court yesterday, when his case was remanded until later this month.
Police officers from the newly formed serial and electronic crimes investigation unit - operating within the Family Violence, Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Unit - arrested him in June.
This after police in the UK arrested a man there on similar charges and linked the two.
A total of 277 explicit images of children, aged between 3 and 15, were allegedly found on the man’s computer and on his cellphone. And 25 explicit images of his children, as well as seven images of him allegedly touching one of them inappropriately, were allegedly discovered.
The man has subsequently been linked to other suspects in Australia and the US. It is believed they were communicating via social media.
It is understood that after he was arrested, the man’s former partner - a woman from South-East Asia - returned to her home country with their children.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said the man’s arrest had come after an intensive investigation, adding that crimes against women and children were a priority for police.
Former Childline head and now a consultant on child rights and child protection, Joan van Niekerk, yesterday emphasised that child pornography was not a victimless crime.
“In order for these images to be created, the abuse of a child has to take place.”
She said another problem was that once images were on the internet, they were there forever.