Sleepover voyeur walks free

04 August 2015 - 08:54 By PHILANI NOMBEMBE

Children's rights experts have voiced alarm after a Cape Town man walked out of court free yesterday despite being found guilty on 2078 counts of sexual assault, possession of child pornography, making child pornography and exposing children to pornography. And the woman who blew the whistle on Durbanville civil engineer Andries Petrus Retief says she feels betrayed all over again.The Parow Regional Court sentenced Retief to eight years imprisonment and ordered that his name be added to the National Register of Sex Offenders. But the sentence was wholly suspended on condition that he is not found guilty of a similar offence in the next five years. The crimes spanned more than 10 years before his arrest in 2011.Retief preyed on close friends' children who "slept over" at his Durbanville farm. He would sneak into the children's room, pull down their pyjamas and take pictures of their genitals with his cellphone while they slept.The children ranged in age from about six to eight.The mother of one of the victims, who was eight at the time of the incident, said she felt she had been betrayed by both the justice system and Retief, who had been a trusted family friend.She and her husband stumbled across the pornographic material on Retief's computer while they were housesitting at his home while he and his family were on holiday in Namibia in December 2010.They reported Retief to the police and he was arrested on January 4 2011 on his return from Namibia. Two computers were seized from his home and sent for forensic examination."He should be in jail," the woman said. "My child is still undergoing counselling although he was asleep at the time. We are doing it just in case something happens down the line."The woman said she found it odd that Retief's wife was still married to him.Antoinette Basson, of Unisa's Youth Research Unit, described the sentence as disturbing. She said Retief's crimes could come back to haunt his victims later in life."He is walking the streets and he can commit the same offence. The impact on the victim [could be severe] because child pornography is an internet-related crime and those photos can never be removed. If that child, as a grown-up, comes across those photos that trauma is relived."Shaheda Omar, clinical director at the Teddy Bear Clinic, shared Basson's sentiments. "What message is the justice system sending out? It actually said that crime pays. The cycle of abuse will perpetuate itself because there are no serious consequences. "..

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