A Pretoria father’s pornographic addiction was so severe that it included child pornography and him taking naked pictures of his own two children, a boy and a girl, both aged 4.
The State on Thursday called for an 18-year jail sentence for the 38-year-old man, who may not be identified to protect his
children.
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Ronel Tolmay convicted the man on eight charges - seven relating to the manufacturing and publication of mainly child pornography - and one of indecently assaulting his daughter.
The court heard how the man had, over the years, downloaded about 19 500 pornographic pictures - some highly disturbing in nature - from the internet. Hundreds of these pictures depict teenage porn.
While an expert was not called to try to establish the ages of the girls on the internet pictures, the judge said it was clear that several of them were very young.
Judge Tolmay also commented that it was an extremely unpleasant and disturbing experience for her to have viewed some of the footage, handed in as evidence, which involved his own two
children.
As thousands of pornographic photos were handed to court which were downloaded from the internet, the judge asked the prosecution to downsize the material which she had to view.
The man, unkempt with long hair in a ponytail, admitted to some of the charges, including the indecent assault of his daughter. He said his first wife’s death affected him emotionally in a bad way.
As for the indecent assault, his daughter from his second marriage walked into the bedroom while he was watching porn on the internet, he said.
As he was “aroused” at the time, he forced her to perform a sexual deed on him.
He then ordered her to undress, which he recorded on his phone and ultimately made her lie on the bed, exposing herself, which he also recorded. He later downloaded the pictures of her.
He said he knew what he did was wrong and said he was sorry.
He also took naked pictures of his little son, which were downloaded. One of the pictures handed to court, depicted the boy naked in the bath, but the judge gave him the benefit of the doubt regarding this picture, as parents did sometimes take pictures of their children in the bath.
Reams of adult pornography was found on his computer, but the charges against him were aimed against those which depicted child or teen pornography.
The man admitted that he did search for, and downloaded, teen pornography.
His wife also handed in two “scripts” to the police which she had found among her husband’s belongings. These were notes or scripts he had written for two pornographic films. The one involved a 17-year-old as the main character, while the other did not involve children.
The footage involving his daughter was described by the court as “a sick action” and the judge said it was clear that his intention was to abuse her.
The children have been removed from the care of their parents and placed in safe care.
The father refused to testify in his own defence. The judge commented that it was not advisable for the children to testify about their trauma, as she did not want to subject them to secondary trauma.
The defence asked the court to show the accused mercy, as he is a first offender and not per se “into child porn”. It was said that he was into “porn in general”.
But the State said the pictures of the children were “despicable and disturbing”. He will be sentenced on November 28.