WHITE RIVER – The state has postponed a case against a school principal due to a large amount of evidence gathered in a national investigation. The principal (46) accused of child pornography appeared in the White River Magistrate’s Court again on November 22.
The court deferred the case to February 14, 2014.
A court document stated that the case was postponed due to it being part of a wider police investigation that spanned various provinces. The report attested that there were three separate cases that were running concurrently at the magistrate’s courts in Pretoria, White River and Potchefstroom.
The investigation into these matters was receiving priority treatment by a dedicated team of police officers attached to the PHO: Gauteng (Family Violence Child Protection Sexual Offences Unit).
The document stipulated that due to the large amount of the evidentiary material involved, the investigating team was awaiting the finalisation of various forensic reports.
The case in Pretoria was postponed until February 28, 2014 and the Potchefstroom matter was expected on November 27, but a postponement would also be requested.
The principal was arrested on August 14 and was the first suspect in a massive global investigation into a child-pornography ring.
Police had revealed at that time that as many as 50 more people were being looked into regarding an apparent syndicate.
Three more suspects are being investigated by police after a tip-off from a Dutch group called Terre des Hommes.
Lowvelder confirmed with Terre des Hommes that the three were definitely in South Africa and Interpol had received the information which the group had found.
It had set up a trap on the Internet by creating an animated “life-like” 10-year-old girl computer graphic named “Sweetie”. The group stated it had identified a 1 000 paedophiles worldwide with “Sweetie” in just two months and handed over the information to Interpol.
National police spokesman, Lt Gen Solomon Makgale, said law enforcement could not confirm if any more of these suspects resided in the province.
Prosecutor Ms Elbe Basson said the principal was apparently found in possession of DVDs containing alleged child-pornography images. She said police had also seized his laptops.
He is out on R1 000 bail.
Child Welfare SA White River operations manager Mr Johan Bosch speaks to Lowvelder about the principal porn case.
Read other related articles here: https://lowvelder.co.za/36563/principal-back-court-today/
