Accused bail conditions to be amended in child sex ring case

The case of a well-known advocate, 63, and his co-accused, 53, accused of alleged involvement in what appeared to be a child sex ring, was yet again postponed following a request to amend their bail conditions, to 28 January for determination of their trial.

This emerged in the High Court in Johannesburg on Friday, where the matter was previously postponed to amend the indictment as more witnesses came forward.

The advocate, who may not be named as he has yet to plead, asked the court if he could report at least one day a week on Fridays.

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Meanwhile, the co-accused, who was previously released on bail of R6,000, on condition that he may not purchase, rent, or hire any cyber devices, asked the court to grant him permission to have a laptop as he had recently been employed and needed one to work.

However, state prosecutor Valencia Dube told the court that due to the way in which the accused lured the victims, and used the internet to commit some of the crimes, he could not be allowed to possess any cyber devices.

“The problem is that children were being sourced and pounced on online, on Facebook. They were requested to take pornographic videos of themselves taking off their school uniforms, doing all sorts of acts.

“They were guided on how long these videos should be and how they should be set out and then they were paid for those videos.”

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane welcomed the postponement and said the pair faced more than 700 charges between them, all relating to the sexual exploitation of at least three teenage boys aged between 15 and 16.

“The accused are currently facing about 734 charges. The matter is now being postponed for pre-trial to determine the state of readiness for both parties.”

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Apart from the alleged involvement of the advocate who represented several high-profile “political” clients and his co-accused, the indictment stated that other individuals had also allegedly sexually exploited the minors, as the co-accused had allegedly arranged clients the children would service daily at his residence.

“The children travelled to Johannesburg with tickets purchased by one of the accused and were housed by the other accused,” Dube added.

“And upon arrival were immediately raped and thereafter pimped to many, many grown men for sexual acts.

“They were trafficked here and once here they were exploited for sexual acts.

“One child was here for a month and another child was here for a week or so. Whatever adult men paid for sexual acts done on the children was taken by one of the accused and kept for himself.”