Child sex ring kingpin Gerhard Ackerman plans to confess

Lawyer for alleged child sex ring kingpin Gerhard “Gerrie” Ackerman told the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday how his client was planning to admit to some of the charges he is currently facing.

Last month Ackerman pleaded not guilty to all 740 charges he stands accused of. They include rape, attempted murder, distribution of child porn and human trafficking of minor children for sexual exploitation.

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Co-accused dead

Ackerman’s co-accused, acting judge and Commission of Inquiry into State Capture evidence leader Paul Kennedy, committed suicide some months after he was arrested and charged alongside Ackerman.

Ackerman’s lawyer, advocate Herman Alberts, told Judge Mohamed Ismael he would sit down with his client and draft some of the things he wanted to admit to.

Testimony

This was after a mother testified how her child allegedly found Ackerman masturbating in the changing room of a swimming school in Sandringham, Johannesburg, her child attended.

The court referred to her as Mrs M to protect the identity of the child. Mrs M said it was after school when she took her son to the swimming school for his lessons.

She said her son went into the changing room to change for his swimming lesson and everything seemed fine. “After he finished his lessons, he went into the changing room, however, this time he came out quickly without changing his clothes.

He told me there was a gentleman who had his phone in his hands, touching and playing with himself,” she said. “I went to the coach to tell him what happened.

When we went there, the gentleman was already in his car. They tried to stop him but the gentleman drove out, driving through the boom gate.”

She said she was very upset after the incident but she was glad her son reported it to her because they taught him to report anything, whether good or bad.

Alberts asked if she knew whether the gentleman was already in the bathroom when her son went in or if she saw the gentleman after his son reported the incident.

“I don’t know if he was already in the bathroom when we arrived and I did not see him because when they tried to stop him, but he drove through the boom gate,” she said.

Evidence recovered

Prosecutor Valencia Dube read into the court record an affidavit from Murendeni Muridili, a child protection officer from the Film and Publication Board, who analysed and classified pictures and videos found by the police on both Ackerman and Kennedy’s phones and laptops.

Muridili found over 2 000 inappropriate pictures and videos of toddlers, children aged six to 12 years old and teenagers aged 13 to 17 years old on both their phones.

He found 35 pictures, 400 screenshots and 100 pictures on Kennedy’s phone and laptop. Muridili also found 305 videos and 273 pictures on Ackerman’s phone and 1 310 pictures on his laptop.

Ackerman told the court he did not want to question the contents of Muridili’s findings and had no objections to the contents found in his phone or laptop. The case was postponed to Friday for the continuation of the trial.

READ MORE: Gerhard Ackerman child sex ring witnesses too traumatised to testify without intermediary