Man jailed for 15 years for ‘depraved’ child porn activities
Magistrate Colditz remarked that the children he picked on were particularly vulnerable as they came from broken homes.
The actions of a man, jailed for an effective 15 years on 350 counts related to child porn, ‘are the absolute depths of depravity and included photographs of babies being raped and other sadistic images’.
Those were the remarks of Magistrate T Colditz who on Friday sentenced Newcastle artisan, Nicolaas van Helsdingen (35) to 30 years but certain counts will run concurrently, making it an effective 15 years imprisonment.
Van Helsdingen was convicted of 356 counts – 350 of these related to the possession of child porn, including two counts of the grooming of children, two of statutory rape and two counts of instructing a child to use another child for child porn activities.
The Court found that van Helsdingen was not remorseful and that there were aggravating factors. Magistrate Colditz remarked that the children he picked on were particularly vulnerable as they came from broken homes.
The defence did call a psychiatrist to testify but the accused did not offer any explanation as to what prompted his addiction to child porn.
The Court was also concerned that the ‘utter depravity of the images would have lasting traumatic effects on the victims’.
The accused was defended by Advocate Jan Venter and Marion Willis-Smith, who resides in Dundee, was the prosecutor in the case.
