Model boss guilty of rape, sexual assault

09 February 2017 - 08:33 By Naledi Shange
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Modelling agency boss Dawie de Villiers. File photo
Modelling agency boss Dawie de Villiers. File photo
Image: Dawie de Villiers via Twitter

Modelling agency boss Dawie de Villiers has been found guilty of a string of charges, including raping and sexually assaulting some of the teenagers on his books.

Judge Cassim Moosa, in the Johannesburg High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court in Alberton on the East Rand, also found him guilty of exposing children to pornography, accessing child pornography and fraud.

A 10-year-old boy testified to seeing pornographic images on De Villiers's laptop computer.

De Villiers's former wife testified to having found sexually explicit images of one of her husband's alleged victims in 2009.

Throughout the trial, De Villiers maintained his innocence, alleging that his accusers wanted to tarnish his image and that of his company, Modelling SA.

One of his victims told the court that she was 15 when she was befriended by De Villiers on Facebook. She said he raped her at his home, to which he lured her on the pretext of a photographic shoot.

He handed her a morning-after pill after the encounter.

Moosa said the witnesses gave convincing testimony but that of De Villiers was "riddled with inconsistencies".

Moosa extended bail pending De Villiers's sentencing.

De Villiers was ordered to pay R5,000 in addition to the R10,000 bail he has already paid.

The case has been postponed to March 8.

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