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- A well-known advocate and his co-accused are face multiple charges relating to rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child pornography.
- Their case was postponed on Friday as a legal representative for accused one could not appear in court.
- The pair are facing 34 charges.
The human trafficking, child pornography and rape case against a well-known advocate who has acted as a High Court judge has been postponed to December.
The 63-year-old man and his 53-year-old co-accused, who cannot be named in terms of the Sexual Offences Act until they have pleaded to the charges, appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Friday.
The court heard that the advocate's co-accused's legal representative could not appear in court, so the matter had to be postponed.
It was expected that pre-trial proceedings would take place on Friday before a date for trial could be arranged.
The matter was then postponed to 3 December.
News24 previously reported that the advocate and his co-accused are accused of targeting minor boys on social media platforms, including Facebook and Grindr, a dating app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.
They allegedly solicited child pornography in the form of images and videos for which the boys were paid.
It is also alleged that the accused facilitated arrangements for the victims to travel to Johannesburg, where the boys were allegedly raped by the accused.
The court heard:
It is further alleged that the advocate forced the victims to have intercourse with an unknown person while he and the co-accused watched.
Three teenage boys aged between 15 and 16 were identified in the indictment as victims.
Charges
According to the indictment, the pair face 34 charges between them, including:
- Three counts of unlawful possession of child pornography;
- Five counts of unlawfully creating child pornography;
- Two counts of unlawfully importing or producing child pornography;
- Human trafficking;
- Benefitting from the service of a child victim of trafficking;
- Three counts of facilitating trafficking in persons;
- Two counts of involvement in offences under the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act;
- Conspiracy to commit offences under the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act;
- Two counts of rape;
- Two counts of sexual assault;
- Compelled rape;
- Compelled sexual assault;
- Four counts of sexual exploitation;
- Two counts of sexual grooming;
- Three counts of using a minor for child pornography; and
- Benefitting from child pornography
News24 also reported that on 9 July, the advocate, who is a senior counsel, was released on R20 000 bail, while his co-accused was released on R6 000 bail.
The matter was then postponed to August for further investigation, which included the analysis of the cellphones and computers of the accused.
In August, the matter was transferred to the High Court.
According to the indictment, the pair was arrested after one of the child victims came forward to the police.
Police began their investigations with the assistance of the US Homeland Security department.
It is understood that law enforcement authorities were investigating accused one and that through their investigations, the advocate was linked to the matter.
News24 contacted the advocate, who said he would not be commenting on the matter, except that he denied the charges against him.
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