Africa-Press – South-Africa. The State will be adding three more criminal cases against a 53-year-old man facing hundreds of charges relating to child pornography and the operation of what appeared to be a child sex ring.
The accused, who cannot be named until he has pleaded to the charges, appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday.
He was initially charged alongside senior advocate Paul Kennedy in a case involving more than 700 counts of child pornography, sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual grooming of a minor and rape.
However, charges were withdrawn against Kennedy following his death on 21 February. News24 previously reported that Kennedy had committed suicide.
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As the only accused left in the matter, the State previously informed the court that it would be joining other criminal cases against the 53-year-old. On Monday, prosecutor, advocate Valencia Dube, said two more dockets from the Western Cape were found and would be added to the main case, centralising the charges.
Dube did not disclose what the two other cases were about or what additional charges the accused would face. The third case added was a charge of indecent exposure from an alleged incident in Gauteng.
The accused also faced a separate case of sexual assault before the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court. According to the charge sheet, the accused was charged with four counts of sexual assault dating back to 2018.
It was alleged that he forced an 11-year-old boy to touch his penis in a public bathroom at an upmarket country club. The matter could not be added to the case in the high court as it was already part heard at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court.
Main case
In the main case before the high court, Kennedy and his co-accused were charged with more than 700 counts of possession of child pornography, compelled sexual assault, sexual exploitation of children, the sexual grooming of children, benefitting from the services of a child victim of trafficking, and financing, controlling or organising the trafficking of a child victim and rape.
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Kennedy was facing three counts of rape as well as compelled rape, for allegedly compelling another adult male to have sex with one of the teenagers as he watched. The co-accused had been charged with two counts of rape, multiple counts of human trafficking and the sexual grooming of children.
It was alleged that he facilitated arrangements for the victims to travel to Johannesburg, where they were allegedly raped and sexually assaulted. According to the indictment, he would also groom the children to perform sexual acts on older “clients” that he would secure.
“Accused one (Kennedy’s co-accused), arranged the clients and schedules of clients that the children would service daily at his residence,” the indictment stated.
The alleged crimes occurred between September 2020 and July 2021, shortly before both accused were arrested.
The matter was postponed to 16 May.
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