‘At least a dozen’ sexploitation cases in Benoni

Sexploitation is when a person is exploited in a sexual manner.

Patel said these sexploitation instances are primarily social media related.

A 53-year-old man from Benoni spoke to the City Times about his encounter with a sexploiter.

He explained he was contacted by a woman who was on the same community Facebook group as he was.

He said he perceived the person to be trustworthy as they had mutual acquaintances.

They started to send text messages to one another and spoke only via WhatApp for a month, according to the man.

The person then sent inappropriate photos to him and he showed the images to his wife.

She then removed the contact from his phone.

Once the contact was blocked from his WhatsApp, he “received a phone call from a foreign man with an accent”.

The man allegedly requested R20 000 in cash and when he refused, the foreigner asked how much money he has.

“I just decided I am not paying a cent,” he said.

The man’s Facebook friends, including his children, then started receiving inappropriate pictures of him.

“I have a lot of information on my Facebook account like my cellphone number and my work address,” he said, explaining people had access to a lot of his personal information.

In one picture a man is seen exposing a private part.

A face is not shown in the photograph.

The man admitted that he did send some pictures of himself to the sexploiter, but none of them exposed his private parts.

He said he is a grandfather and is respected in his community.

“I am distraught; I am on the verge of either a heart attack or a nervous breakdown,” said the man.

He said he spoke and sent personal information to an unknown person and now he is suffering the consequences.

“I haven’t opened a case at the police yet, but I will go as soon as possible,” he said, before adding that he does not know how the police will manage to find an untraceable person.

Patel said such cases affect adults, teenagers and young children.

He explained that teenagers and young children have access to various types of devices and when left unsupervised, they can do as they please, which leaves them exposed to various dangerous situations.

The City Times was put in contact with a 16-year-old girl who is also a victim of sexploitation.

She does not live in Benoni.

The girl was only 13 years old when she ‘met’ an unnamed man on social media.

She said he lived in the same complex as she did and he asked for her number on Facebook.

“I started liking him, or I thought I did,” she admitted.

As they became friends the man tried to rape her – according to the girl.

She explained that when he was unsuccessful, he forced her to take her clothes off so he could film and take pictures of her.

The man, who was 19 at that stage, created four Instagram accounts depicting the girl as a “porn star”.

She asked some of her friends to report the accounts as fake accounts and three were deactivated, but one is still operational.

She said he also threatened to publish pictures on a pornography website.

In messages seen by the City Times, the girl pleads with her alleged abuser not to publish videos or photos taken of her on social media.

In one of her messages his reply reads: “It is late now. U must do whatever I say otherwise I will put pics on X VIDEOS. U better know I will do it (sic)”.

In other messages on WhatsApp, the man told the girl she must marry him the following Monday or he will publish the said photos and videos.

The man sent the images to the girl’s mother.

The girl’s father said the sexploiter uses 28 different cellphone numbers.

He said “[he] still can’t believe what [his] daughter told [him] about what happened.”

He also said they reported the incident to the local police as soon as they found out about the incident in early 2015.

The girl said the police claimed they cannot do anything as she gave him consent to take the pictures.

The father said they were put in contact with Patel in July or August and he helped them to open a case at their local police station.

He said the case was transferred to the Child Protection Unit.

“She is dealing with so much, and it is sad that the community and school are so judgemental,” her father said, adding that this could happen to any vulnerable person.

He said parents should ensure their children have the courage to speak to their parents about sexploitative behaviour.

Patel’s advice to sexploitation victims is to “speak out”.

He said if a victim keeps being the victim it will perpetually ruin his or her life and “the next thing is you will lose your house.”

“Don’t let somebody bully you. If someone is threatening you, inform the CPF or the police immediately,” he urged the community.

He also said people must ask the relevant questions about being contacted on social media and he said people should never try to please strangers as it is not worth the risk.

Benoni SAPS spokesperson Capt Nomsa Sekele said to her knowledge, no such cases have been reported.

Also read:

Man robbed of R100 000 after withdrawal