Sex ring kingpin Ackerman claims boys knew they’d be expected to ‘touch’ clients

Alleged child sex ring kingpin Gerhard Ackerman has dismissed evidence by the state that the children did not know they would be required to do massages on old men at his massage business.

‘Boys were aware’

Ackerman said only one of the boys did not know what they would be required to do, as he was underage. “They knew exactly what they were going to do when they were coming to me.

Only one didn’t know,” he told the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday. Ackerman said he asked the boys if they would be willing to touch the clients and for the clients to touch them during the massage.

“I told them they would be required to massage clients and give them a happy ending, and they knew what a happy ending means,” he said.

Gay world

“In the gay world, massage involves touching private parts. The nature of the business was gay and there was no way they would have come if they were not gay.”

Ackerman insisted the state tell him which of the boys did not know what they were going to do at his massage business.

“I have not heard of any evidence of them saying they never knew what they were going to do,” he said. Ackerman said all the people who testified against him “lied in some form or the other”.

He told the court that he started the business with two boys who offered to start giving massages. Judge Mahomed Ismail said Ackerman only saw an opportunity to exploit these boys.

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Exploitation

“These are children, you take videos and you get these men to come there, not for one moment you told a 14-year-old, 15-year-old or 16-year-old that, listen maybe stay with your parents, wait for a few years then get a bit wiser and matured but no, what you did was exploit them,” he said.

Ackerman denied this saying, he did not exploit them. “I helped them to make money because they came from poor backgrounds and I understood how it was like to be poor.”

He also said he only hired children because his clients wanted them “fresh and young”. Ismail said even if the children were gay and poor, Ackerman had no right to do what he did to them.

In other surprising testimony, Ackerman told Mahomed how he took videos of two minors having sex on his couch and sent them to co-accused, acting judge Paul Kennedy, who committed suicide shortly after he was charged.

READ MORE: Did the NPA drop the ball on Gerhard Ackerman?

Admission

Ackerman admitted to directing and helping create pornographic videos made by the kids and sold them to Kennedy and other adult clients.

Yesterday, during cross examination, the court heard a voice note where Ackerman was telling a prospective client what he could do to a child and the cost thereof.

He was heard saying the client would be able to do sexual acts and have a happy ending with the child. An hour later, the client was heard telling Ackerman he had a wonderful experience.

On Monday, Ismail acquitted Ackerman of two rape charges with reference to oral sex with two boys. This was because during their testimony in camera, the boys did not mention the oral sex but only testified on the penetration by Ackerman, which Ismail found to be grounds for acquittal.

As a result, he now faces 738 counts. The case was postponed to 7 March for closing arguments.

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

– lungas@citizen.co.za