Kept under lock and key in the office of the chief registrar in the Pretoria High Court is a thick, red photo album filled with about 300 pictures. Many are X-rated.
The album had tongues wagging up and down the court corridors and in courtroom GA this week - not only among the media and the public - but it appeared that legal counsel also preferred the so-called Barbie-and-Dirk trial to their own.
At first it appeared they just wanted a glimpse of the buxom Cezanne Visser and her beau Dirk Prinsloo, but it became clear that there was also a lot of interest in the red album, labelled exhibit one.
But Judge Essop Patel put an end to speculation as to whether the public would get a glimpse of the album when he ordered that only the legal teams, he himself, his two assessors and certain officials could see it.
Visser this week pleaded not guilty to 15 charges, most of a sexual nature, and Prinsloo pleaded not guilty to 16. Several concern alleged sexual acts with minors.
The children claimed they were exposed to pornographic material, that some of them had to walk around the house naked and that Visser taught them about the joys of sex.
Among the claims are that Visser stimulated herself with a vibrator in front of the alleged victims and that the couple had sex in their presence.
A 14-year-old claimed she was drugged before being subjected to sexual acts. Rohypnol, the so-called date- rape drug, was one of many items seized at the couple's Centurion home during a police raid in December 2002.
The court heard on Friday that four Viagra tablets, together with 30 flunitrazepam tablets (the generic version of Rohypnol) were prescribed to Prinsloo on a single script in August 2002.
Other children claimed that Visser showed them a body piercing on her private parts as well as a tattoo. She is also alleged to have shown one of the girls where she had Prinsloo's name branded over her private parts.
The ex-investigating officer, Carel Cornelius, told the court that the police had uncovered pornographic material throughout the couple's home.
Books, opened at explicit sex scenes, were found in the main bedroom, while six videos containing scenes of bestiality were also found. The red album was found in a cupboard.
Apart from pictures of naked adults, the album contained 12 pictures of what the state says is child pornography. The pictures appear to show Visser and two under-age girls fondling each other's genitals. Another shows "a child" having oral sex with a man.
The defence complained bitterly about the album's presentation as an exhibit. Defence advocate Pieter Coetzee said that, apart from the 12 pictures, the bulk of the 300 photographs showed consenting adults. He asked the court to respect the privacy of Prinsloo, the photos' owner.
Visser's mother, Susan, commented loudly in court that the media should note the album belonged to Prinsloo and not her daughter.
The advocate had her breasts enlarged after she met Prinsloo and became a public figure after participating in the TV series Idols.
Both she and Prinsloo are members of the Pretoria independent bar, which reprimanded her when she posed for pictures in her advocate's gown.