Accused Gerhard Ackerman in court on 24 January 2023. Photo: WMACA
The High Court in Johannesburg today heard how alleged child sex ring kingpin Gerhard Ackerman tried to buy a firearm and get a fake identity document so he could flee to Botswana using lifts from trucks in an attempt evade trial.
Ackerman is facing more than 700 charges ranging from rape, attempted murder, distribution of child pornography and human trafficking of minor children for sexual exploitation.
He was a no-show in court last Thursday, citing ill health. He informed his lawyer via a WhatsApp voice note that he had diarrhoea because of food poisoning. The court ruled he should provide a doctor’s note by Friday.
He did not produce the doctor’s note, which prompted the state to seek a warrant of arrest for failure to appear in court and breaking bail conditions.
On Sunday, he was spotted and grabbed by members of the public in Florida, and subsequently arrested.
In an affidavit, which was read into the court’s record, one of Ackerman’s friends, Antony van Zyl, said he had known him for three weeks by the name of Dante.
Van Zyl said Ackerman’s version that he was too sick to appear was not true.
READ MORE: Sex trafficking suspect Gerhard Ackerman caught by civilians, after he went on run
“He tried to get a fake ID and wanted to go to Botswana. He didn’t want to drive there because he was afraid he would get pulled over at the roadblock,” read Van Zyl’s affidavit.
The court also heard how Ackerman allegedly wanted to purchase a firearm to “tie up loose ends” – to kill himself because he did not want to go to jail.
During his testimony he claimed was robbed of his cellphone after seeing “a black doctor” in Pretoria, whose name and address he could not remember, although he would be able to take the investigating officer there.
Ackerman said he did not report the loss of the phone to the police because “he just wanted to go back home and the police hardly do anything [on robberies]”.
He claimed the doctor’s note got lost when he was apprehended.
Judge Mahomed Ismail postponed the matter to tomorrow for the bail ruling. Ackerman would remain in custody until the bail application was finalised.
READ MORE: Did the NPA drop the ball on Gerhard Ackerman?
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