PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - A “slap on the wrist” sentence for a Cape Town man convicted of more than 2 000 counts involving the manufacturing and possession of child pornography has sparked concerns amongst Plettenberg Bay children’s rights activists who fear the court could take the same approach in a local case.
This as the 37-year-old Plettenberg Bay computer engineer, accused of being linked to a horrific international baby pornography network, is set to take his place in the Knysna Regional Court dock on Friday, August 14.
The local man, who cannot be named until he has pleaded, was arrested on January 13 after international police raided his Plett home following a lengthy investigation by Belgian and South African police.
He was tracked down after his internet address was found on an obscure online chat room for alleged paedophiles with fetishes including the sexual abuse of babies in nappies.
Described by the Antwerp Police Child and Sexual Exploitation Unit as “pure evil”, officers discovered during their investigation horrific images of babies, some only a few days old, being raped, tortured and murdered.
Since his arrest several other child pornography cases across South Africa have made headlines, including one involving a Cape Town man who lured children to a farm in Durbanville where he lived and where he took pornographic photographs of them and made pornographic videos involving them.
“We are appalled and shocked after reading news reports that magistrate Amanda van Leeft and prosecutor Herculine Swart at the Sexual Offences Court in Parow last week handed down only an eight-year suspended sentence to a civil engineer who lured young children to make sexual abuse images and videos of them,” Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) spokesman and Plett resident Joanne Barrett said this week.
Andries Retief (also 37) pleaded guilty to 2 130 charges involving the manufacturing and possession of child pornography. “But the court was lenient, citing that he is a first-time offender and has shown remorse by submitting himself to therapy and other treatment was still in progress.
“How does someone who has made 2 130 images of the sexual abuse of children get defined as a first-time offender? These children face a life sentence of trauma if the images of their abuse at the hands of Retief have been distributed on the internet. Is Retief remorseful because of what he has done or because he was caught by his friends whose children he used,” Barrett asked.
She added that a suspended sentence was an insult to the victims and their families. “Each image is a crime against a child and Retief should have been sentenced appropriately for each image and video he had abused children for.
“Our constitution regards the interests of children as of paramount importance, but there seems to be absolutely no regard for the well-being of the child victims in this case and only concern for Retief’s emotional problems – what about the child victims and their suffering at the hands of this child molester. Who will be accountable if Retief reoffends?”
She added that WMACA demanded that these cases involving the manufacture, possession and distribution of images of the rape of children be heard by specialist child-friendly legal teams in the high courts.
Barrett also said that she hoped that the Knysna Regional Court saw the Plett incident in a more serious light and would hand down a more appropriate sentence when the case comes to that stage.
Click here for previous articles:
- Plett child porn case back in court
- Child porn investigation complete
- Update: Plett child porn case
- Residents take anti-porn protest further
- Action against child porn horror
- Plett residents unite against porn
- Plett paedophile arrest leads to PE bust
- Bail for child porn accused
- Paedophiles in the Garden Route
- Update: Alleged Plett paedophile arrested
- Alleged paedophile linked to international porn ring
ARTICLE: YOLANDé STANDER, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD CORRESPONDENT
'We bring you the latest Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route news'
