The grandparents accused of being involved in a child pornographic ring were “maliciously” arrested shortly before they could bring a high court application against the Christian Social Council to have their foster children returned to them.
This was what the couple, aged 58 and 57, claimed during their bail application in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
They said in their statements they had given their lawyer instructions to bring an application after the Christian Social Council removed the two foster children, aged six and eight, from the grandfather’s care earlier this year.
“This would have been in the High Court on December 3. Suddenly we were arrested on December 2,” the couple said.
The grandfather added that, although his house’s back door was open, police still kicked open the front door. They appeared with six other family members in court for the first time since their arrest in what has been described as one of the biggest child pornographic rings busted in South Africa.
Four children were removed from the smallholdings where the relatives lived. It is alleged that they and the two foster children were used in pornographic movies and were sexually abused by the adults.
However, it appeared that further investigations uncovered two further victims, as State prosecutor Tania Carstens told the court there were eight victims, all under the age of 15.
All the accused said they would plead not guilty, claiming no knowledge of the alleged crimes they face.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman, Mthunzi Mhaga, said outside court that the accused might face several charges, mostly of contravening the Sexual Offences Act. This included rape, incest, sexual grooming, sexual assault, producing pornographic material and using children to produce pornographic material.
During their bail application, the grandfather said he had no biological children, only the two who were in his foster care. He was a pig farmer, earning about R9 000 a month. He could lose his income if incarcerated, as there was no one to take care of the animals which were worth R80 000.
He had several heart attacks in the past and was taking medication for his chronic heart problems. In addition, he walked with a crutch due to hip problems.
His wife said she was a “housewife” and had two children, aged 34 and 31. They have been living on the Lusthof plot (where the movies were allegedly manufactured), that has been owned by her husband, since 1996.
The third accused, 34, and his wife, 26, rented a house on a smallholding in Grootvlei. It is believed that he is the grandmother’s eldest son. Their children are four and eight years of age. He worked for Rovos Rail, while his wife was about to start a new job at a Spar in Hammanskraal on the day of her arrest.
Accused No 5, the 61-year-old brother of the grandfather, and his 43-year-old wife, were renting a home on a plot in Bultfontein. All these plots are believed to be in the same area. Also a pig farmer, he has five children aged 38, 36, 28, 21 and 13. The youngest child, a girl, is his child with his current wife.
“I have no idea what this case is about and have no knowledge of the allegations against me,” he stated.
Besides their teenage daughter, the wife also has a 23-year-old child.
The mentally disabled 28-year-old accused, believed to be Accused No 5’s son from a previous relationship, was a car guard.
“I don’t know why I am accused (of the crimes). I will deny everything,” he said.
The last accused, the 36-year-old son-in-law of the grandfather, has a nine-year-old boy, who allegedly threatened to kill himself when he was removed from his family.
He worked at the Spar. This man stated that he, his wife and child lived together in a house on his father-in-law’s plot. “My wife and I work together. She was not arrested. It is impossible that I could have done these things without her knowing,” he said.
The case was postponed to tomorrow for the State’s affidavits in opposing bail.
Mhaga said that because of the seriousness of the case, the prosecution would oppose bail as they fear the witnesses might be intimidated.
“They are children, and some are biological children of the accused. The possibility of other children being involved and more suspects being arrested cannot be ruled out. The investigation indicated that some of the alleged offences happened as far back as 2005. The latest was about March, so the State needs to compile a comprehensive statement,” he said.
In the meantime, Solidarity Helping Hand has laid a complaint of neglect of duty at the Department of Social Development and Welfare against the social worker who had placed the two foster children in the grandparents’ care.
If this social worker had visited the house from the start, she would have seen the alleged filthy circumstances were not suitable, it said.
“And if the social worker did follow-up visits, she would have removed the children earlier due these circumstances,” it said. - Pretoria News