Court hears lawyer accused of buying child was in love with her

The court heard that the lawyer from Heidelberg was in love with the 13-year-old girl, who he previously said he thought was an adult and paid the mother to stop her from being used as a prostitute.

This is what attorney Carel Schoeman told the regional court prosecutor from the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court, Maria Fyfe, during a consultation with him.

Fyfe was the latest witness to testify as the trial against the attorney and his co-accused, the 39-year-old mother, resumed in a high court sitting in Palm Ridge on November 27.

Fyfe testified that she met with Schoeman on February 3, last year, under the instruction of the court’s senior public prosecutor who said it was concerning human trafficking.

Schoeman told her he saw an advert for the girl (listed as age 19) on adult websites and paid R1 800 for a two-hour booking.

“He said he found her attractive the first time they met. He said she was shy and they didn’t have sex, only talked for two hours,” said Fyfe.

“He did not elaborate about the further bookings, but indicated there was more than one booking and repeatedly indicated to me that he was under the impression that she was over the age of 18, or at least 16.

“He said as their interactions grew, his love grew and he approached the mother to negotiate an amount of money to stop the girl being used as a sex worker.

“The amount discussed was R160 000 and he indicated to me that he had already paid R25 000.”

To ensure the girl intends to leave sex work, Schoeman had her undergo a polygraph test and he told Fyfe it showed deception when the girl had to answer a question about her age.

He told Fyfe he then stopped having sex with her and tracked down her grandmother in Brakpan, who then informed him the girl was 13.

Schoeman took her to the grandmother.

The grandmother, however, previously told the court that she was the one who sent Schoeman a message on Facebook.

Furthermore, Schoeman told Fyfe he wished to have the girl removed from the care of the grandmother as she was being used as a prostitute and wanted the girl to be put in his custody.

As Fyfe was struggling to follow what Schoeman was saying during the consultation she asked him to put all the information in chronological order in an email, which he did on February 6, last year.

Fyfe, however, only received the email on February 13, after which she contacted the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit and an enquiry was opened.

During cross-examination, Schoeman’s advocate, Deon Pool, spoke about the email that was sent to Fyfe and she maintained she received it on February 13, and said they had issues receiving emails.

Pool also pointed out that Schoeman sent a follow-up email to find out what was happening with the matter.
Background

The mother is accused of selling the sexual services of her minor daughters (aged 13 and 11 at the time). Schoeman faces 26 charges, the mother 72, and they recently pleaded not guilty to all of them.

The charges include rape, sexual abuse of a minor, child trafficking and the pointing of a firearm.

The offences happened in Boksburg, Heidelberg, Brakpan, Springs (Ekurhuleni), Villiers (Free State) and Amanzimtoti and Ramsgate (KwaZulu-Natal) between mid-2022 and early 2023.

Also Read: Curve ball in human trafficking case