The High Court in Johannesburg has sentenced child rapist, Gerhard Ackerman to 12 life terms in prison.
Ackerman was found guilty of being in possession of child pornography as well as creating and broadcasting it.
He was charged alongside the former Acting Judge Paul Kennedy who committed suicide following his arrest.
In April, Ackerman was found guilty of rape and possession of child pornography.
He faced over 740 charges for his role in a child rape ring.
Judge Ismail Mohamed during the judgement rejected the accused’s version that two of the boys consented to sex with him and therefore has been found guilty of rape.
Mohamed said Ackerman unlawfully encouraged boys to also perform sexual acts on Paul Kennedy, knowing he was HIV positive.
One of the victims was 14 years old at the time. Over 1 000 pornographic images and videos were retrieved from Ackerman’s laptop while over 600 images were retrieved from his cellphone. These images include photos of toddlers being raped and performing sexual acts on adults.
Mohamed said Ackerman simply pimped the vulnerable boys for a living.
The video below is the full judgment in April:
Oudtshoorn
In the Western Cape, a 46-year-old man has been sentenced to 90 years imprisonment in the Oudtshoorn regional court in the Little Karoo.
The accused was found guilty on six charges relating to the sexual assault of minors.
He was arrested in October 2019 by the Mossel Bay Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses unit(FCS) following allegations of rape and sexual assault reported to police by the victim’s mother.
Police spokesperson, Chris Spies, says investigations revealed that the man, a family friend, violated two minors, aged 10 and 11 at the time.
These incidents took place between 2014 and 2019.
Spies says while the accused received 90 years imprisonment, 20 years will run concurrently on two of the charges against him.
Additional reporting by Pearl Magubane and Sagree Chetty.
