Child sex trial hears how Ackerman and Kennedy were caught

Gerhard Ackerman, facing 740 charges related to a child sex ring, was reportedly tricked into handing himself over to police. 

This came to the fore as investigating officer Hendrick du Plessis  of the serial and electronic crime investigation unit testified in the high court in Johannesburg, where Ackerman is facing trial.

After hearing damning allegations from children who claimed they were used by Ackerman for sexual massages, Du Plessis obtained a search warrant for Ackerman’s home.

Police found that Ackerman was on a golf tour. There was a BMW in the yard, which investigators traced to Ackerman’s brother, who gave the police Ackerman’s contact number.

“I called the accused, and I told him I wanted to see him about this vehicle.”

When Du Plessis met Ackerman, he told him he wasn’t there to talk about the vehicle but to execute the search warrant.

During the raid police seized two cellphones, a memory stick and a laptop, which were handed to forensic experts. Ackerman was arrested.

It was after studying the contents of the devices, including WhatsApp messages and voice notes, that lawyer Paul Kennedy was identified as a person of interest in the case.

The investigating officer had already received Kennedy's number from one of the children.

When Kennedy was arrested, police seized his laptop and cellphone. They found WhatsApp conversations between himself and Ackerman and also between Ackerman and children.

“It was clear that Ackerman would make promises to these kids [in exchange] for the minors to do a simple massage at the parlour that he runs, and they would get paid for that,” Du Plessis told the court.

He said his investigations showed that minors were used for sex by Ackerman and other adult males.

Du Plessis told the court that the minor who had lived with Ackerman reported the crime and explained how Ackerman had allegedly rented him out to give massages to adult males.

He testified that the minor told him he would receive money from clients and a portion of it would go to Ackerman.   

The minor, who had left Ackerman’s house and was staying with a friend, told police that arrangements were made for another teenager to come to Johannesburg the day he left the house.

Du Plessis said the minor provided a mobile number for the teenager, who was coming to Johannesburg. He was identified as TW.

“I tried to contact TW without success. I kept on trying and  left a voice note asking him to get back to me.

“I didn’t mention who I was at the time. It was on a Friday afternoon when I received a call from TW,” he said.

TW told the investigating officer he was alone, as Ackerman had gone to a golf club and would be away for about two hours.

Du Plessis went to the house in Sandringham, where TW told him how Ackerman allegedly taught him to give massages to adult clients and that there were bookings for that weekend.

The child, who was from the Free State, told Du Plessis that when he arrived in Johannesburg, Ackerman took his phone and he had access to it for the first time on the day the call was made to him.

TW showed police pictures and videos that were sent to Ackerman and were still on his phone. Police seized the phone and used it in their investigations. 

At this time police made arrangements for TW to go back to Free State so he could leave the environment and return to his parents.

“In his statements, he [TW] mentioned the cellphone number of Mr Kennedy who arranged the bus ticket for him as well as the email. Kennedy bought the bus ticket, and the arrangement was that he would come to the accused's address in Sandringham, where he would be staying,” he said.

Kennedy was charged alongside Ackerman but killed himself before the trial started.

The court has thus far evidence of how Ackerman had 168 adult clients who were allegedly using the services of the minors. Some would send reviews to him after the services.

“Mr Ackerman used photos that he received from the victims, and he would advertise them as masseuses for his parlour,” he said.

In the WhatsApp messages were discussions of how much the victims would cost. One client allegedly sent Ackerman feedback about the service indicating they should do it again.

When asked why the other clients were not criminally charged, Du Plessis said he couldn’t charge them because  there was no evidence of them  sending money directly to Ackerman.

The court heard that Ackerman knew about Kennedy’s HIV status, and it was confirmed through the WhatsApp conversations between the two.

At one stage, Ackerman allegedly told a minor he sent to Kennedy that he mustn’t perform any kind of sexual act on Kennedy because he was HIV positive.

When police arrested Ackerman, he wasn’t employed and he survived by asking friends for money.

“Otherwise he would use the money from the children to pay for his rent and his daily living,” said Du Plessis.

Ackerman, who had initially been granted bail, is back behind bars after it was found that he had suddenly changed his place of residence. While it was believed that he was attempting to flee, he claimed he had moved out because he could not afford the rent. 

His bail was revoked. 

The trial resumes on Monday.

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