MBOMBELA – The former principal of a local private school who was charged with possession of child pornography in 2013, will return to the Nelspruit Regional Court in March.
He was arrested in July 2013 on charges of possession of child pornography and released on R1 000 bail. The case against him was transferred from the White River Magistrate’s Court to the Nelspruit Regional Court where it was scheduled to resume on February 5.
In the meantime, it has been confirmed that the case has been transferred to the SAPS Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit’s head office in Gauteng. This transfer is motivated by the sexual nature of the alleged crimes and the fact that the accused’s alleged crimes are linked with cases in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Western Europe and Australasia.
The accused is one of seven suspects who have been arrested across the country in connection with these international investigations conducted by, among others, the SAPS and Interpol. According to a reliable source, the suspects from various countries were linked by means of an IP address that they all allegedly used. This IP address was a link to a website that featured child pornography.
The accused, who resides in Cape Town, was not present when his case was postponed earlier this month. His attorney, Mr Coert Jordaan, made a representation to court regarding the case against his client. The case docket will now be evaluated by the Department of Prosecution in light of the representation. Although the content of the representation was not made available in court, a reliable source informed Lowvelder that the withdrawal of the case against the accused was contemplated.
The accused’s bail of R1 000 was extended and the case was postponed to March 19.
