Africa-Press – South-Africa. The world is an evil place because I have been put in prison.”
These were the words of Gerhard Ackerman, the man accused of running a child sex abuse ring in Johannesburg and has maintained his innocence throughout.
Speaking to the media at the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning, Ackerman said the world was an evil place because he had been put in prison. He also cried foul over prison conditions.
Ackerman’s demeanour appeared to be cool and calm, and at one point, he could be seen smiling.
Judgement was supposed to be handed down on Wednesday but had to be postponed as Judge Ismail Mohamed was ill. The matter was expected back in court on Monday.
Ackerman pleaded not guilty to 740 charges, including rape, sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, sexual grooming of children, sexual assault and unlawful possession of child pornography.
At the close of the trial, during closing arguments, prosecutor, Advocate Valencia Dube detailed the charges and the requisite evidence led in court, upon which Ackerman should be convicted. This included how minor teenagers were allegedly trafficked, sexually groomed and then sold to clients who performed sexually lewd acts on the children.
Going through the evidence, Dube pointed out contradictions, including where Ackerman first alleged that the teenagers set the prices for “massages” only to concede later that he determined the prices and that sexual acts were also performed on the boys.
Ackerman told the court that he opened his first massage parlour in Menlo Park in Pretoria, following the suggestion of a 17- or 18-year-old living with him at the time. He then moved his parlour to Sandton, and later to Sandringham.
While giving testimony about the massage parlour, Ackerman claimed his “golden rule” was that none of the “boys” working for him was allowed to have penetrative sex with clients.
However, he admitted to the court that the masseurs did give clients “happy endings”. He later explained that a “happy ending” was where the masseur would masturbate the client and claimed this was consensual.
During the arguments, Mohamed lamented that Ackerman portrayed himself as a gentle lamb but, in his own version, was also a devious predator.
The State said there was no consent and that because the victims were allegedly trafficked and groomed, there could be no bona fide consent, even if the teenagers were old enough to consent.
Ackerman was initially arrested and charged alongside senior advocate and acting judge Paul Kennedy.
Kennedy took his own life before the trial started.
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