An unemployed father who used his minor daughters and infant son to create child pornography for financial gain in the Cape winelands has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The 27-year-old was convicted on two counts of trafficking in persons for online exploitation, four counts of rape of two minor children, three counts of using children for or benefiting from child pornography, 629 counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of unlawful and intentional distribution of child pornography and three counts of child abuse.
The state withheld the man's name to protect the identity of his daughters aged six and four and son aged one.
The man married the mother of his children in March 2018 and stayed home to care for them as he was unemployed at the time.
“He subscribed to a social media application with instant messaging where one can transmit and receive messages, photos, and videos. Users can communicate privately with other users or in groups. The social media platform users can send photographs taken within the application, which indicates to other users a picture was taken in real time and not imported from a camera roll,” said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila.
“He decided to create child pornography for financial gain, as the conversion rate at the time was R18 to the dollar. He connected with the group after the administrative user approved his access to the group, and he started to communicate with the administrative user.”
Ntabazalila said he made pornographic content of his biological children and admitted to selling an “unknown amount of child pornography to unknown users for $5 to $10”.
He was arrested after an online undercover FBI task force officer assigned to the Washington field office as part of the FBI child exploitation and human trafficking task force shared information about his activities with police in SA. He was arrested on May 30 2023 and his cellphone was confiscated.
Senior state advocate Evadne Kortje, who finalised the plea and sentencing agreement, said the accused contributed to the sexualisation of children whose innocence should have been protected and preserved at all costs.
“He communicated and joined the social media application to connect with individuals interested in child pornography. He downloaded child pornography from other unknown collectors and other hands-on child sexual abuse offenders. He abused his parental privilege and the trust relationship he had towards his three small children. Regional court magistrate Gangadu emphasised the inescapable reality of the increasing prevalence of the abuse of modern technology to exploit our children,” said Ntabazalila.
The Paarl regional court sentenced the man to an effective 35-year direct imprisonment and ordered him to serve two-thirds of the sentence before he can be eligible to be considered for parole.
His name will be entered into the national register for sexual offenders. He was declared unfit to work with children or possess a firearm.
TimesLIVE
Father jailed for using biological children in pornography to make money
Undercover FBI officer in Washington alerted police in SA
Image: 123RF/watman
An unemployed father who used his minor daughters and infant son to create child pornography for financial gain in the Cape winelands has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The 27-year-old was convicted on two counts of trafficking in persons for online exploitation, four counts of rape of two minor children, three counts of using children for or benefiting from child pornography, 629 counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of unlawful and intentional distribution of child pornography and three counts of child abuse.
The state withheld the man's name to protect the identity of his daughters aged six and four and son aged one.
The man married the mother of his children in March 2018 and stayed home to care for them as he was unemployed at the time.
“He subscribed to a social media application with instant messaging where one can transmit and receive messages, photos, and videos. Users can communicate privately with other users or in groups. The social media platform users can send photographs taken within the application, which indicates to other users a picture was taken in real time and not imported from a camera roll,” said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila.
“He decided to create child pornography for financial gain, as the conversion rate at the time was R18 to the dollar. He connected with the group after the administrative user approved his access to the group, and he started to communicate with the administrative user.”
Ntabazalila said he made pornographic content of his biological children and admitted to selling an “unknown amount of child pornography to unknown users for $5 to $10”.
He was arrested after an online undercover FBI task force officer assigned to the Washington field office as part of the FBI child exploitation and human trafficking task force shared information about his activities with police in SA. He was arrested on May 30 2023 and his cellphone was confiscated.
Senior state advocate Evadne Kortje, who finalised the plea and sentencing agreement, said the accused contributed to the sexualisation of children whose innocence should have been protected and preserved at all costs.
“He communicated and joined the social media application to connect with individuals interested in child pornography. He downloaded child pornography from other unknown collectors and other hands-on child sexual abuse offenders. He abused his parental privilege and the trust relationship he had towards his three small children. Regional court magistrate Gangadu emphasised the inescapable reality of the increasing prevalence of the abuse of modern technology to exploit our children,” said Ntabazalila.
The Paarl regional court sentenced the man to an effective 35-year direct imprisonment and ordered him to serve two-thirds of the sentence before he can be eligible to be considered for parole.
His name will be entered into the national register for sexual offenders. He was declared unfit to work with children or possess a firearm.
TimesLIVE
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