Two people were arrested, one in Boksburg and one in Germiston, yesterday, and are expected in court today after a chilling investigation revealed alleged drug-facilitated sexual abuse and the sexual abuse of a minor.

The investigation, stemming from information received from the British High Commission in Cape Town, led a multi-disciplinary team, supported by the US Embassy’s Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to clamp down on the suspects in Gauteng yesterday.

According to SAPS, the British High Commission’s National Crime Agency supplied them with a report about a 34-year-old man who was allegedly drugging his wife and recording sexual acts while she was sedated, before distributing the material on an exclusive social media channel. The acts allegedly took place over a period of five years.

“The victim appeared sedated and in a state of unconsciousness when these serious sexual offences were committed,” SAPS said in a statement.

The drug facilitated sexual act is known as somnophilia or ‘sleep fetish’.

The police’s Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations unit, supported by the US Embassy’s HSI, clamped down on the suspect in Boksburg yesterday.

Police stated that they uncovered multiple images and videos relating to drug-facilitated sexual assault, as well as material pointing to sexual abuse of a minor on the suspect’s electronic devices.

The investigation led police to arrest a second suspect (48) in Germiston, who is known to the first suspect.

Police confiscated the 48-year-old suspect’s electronic devices and two unlicensed firearms found in his possession.

Both suspects will appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court today on charges including sexual assault, possession, distribution and manufacturing of child sexual abuse material, contravening Section 16 of the Cyber Crimes Act 19 of 2020 by distributing intimate images of someone without their consent, as well as possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Police say investigations continue as they analyse the suspects’ electronic devices for more evidence.

In 2024, a French woman, Gisèle Pelicot, made international headlines after her husband, Dominique Pelicot, was charged with drugging and raping her, and orchestrating 51 other men to rape and sexually abuse her while she was unconscious.

He and 51 accomplices were convicted of rape and sexual assault.

Pelicot declined to hold the trial behind closed doors, opting for a public trial so that the world could see what had happened to her.

According to French publication Le Monde, Pelicot released a book, A Hymn to Life: Shame has to Change Sides, on February 17, about her ordeal. She has since become a global figure for women’s rights.

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