Child pornography case: It took 40 days for authorities to download material seized from couple

The Randburg Magistrate’s Court has postponed the case against child pornography accused Darren Wilken and his girlfriend, Tiona Moodley, to June.

This after the state requested more time for investigations due to the magnitude of the evidence it seized.

In requesting a postponement on Monday, the state told the court that it took investigators 40 days to download the child pornography allegedly seized from the couple.

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“The magnitude of this investigation is quite substantial. To give the court some indication, the material that was downloaded from the devices that were seized at the premises of accused number 1 and 2 – the size of the material is around 39TB.

“So the process that has been followed since their arrest was obviously downloading this material for it to be analysed. That in itself took 40 days to do, with the downloading running literally 24 hours. To give the court an indication, images at this stage are estimated in the millions.”

Foreign assistance

The state further told the court it was receiving assistance from foreign law enforcement agencies as the couple allegedly traded in cryptocurrency.

A multidisciplinary international team that included the FBI, Saps, AFU, Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), and US Secret Service worked together to seize the accused’s property.

“This kind of investigation cannot be conducted by one man alone. South African law enforcement is assisted by overseas law enforcement agencies from various jurisdictions.

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“The investigation is underway, but it’s far from being finalised because the allegations are that the accused traded in cryptocurrency. That poses quite a challenge for the financial investigation – the private sector is also assisting in this investigation.

“It is anticipated that litigation will probably last quite some time. At this stage, it’s difficult to estimate how far we’re looking into the future.”

Child pornography case: ‘Legal representative not available’

On proposing the postponement date for the child pornography case, the state acknowledged that it may seem far; however, with the material it still needed to go through, “it’s actually not that far”.

The court also heard that Wilken no longer had legal representation and had to request legal aid.

“As far as I understand, they’re just not available. I haven’t spoken to them directly. My mother told me that the next time I go to court, I should look at getting legal representation through legal aid,” Wilken told the court.

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The court postponed the case to 20 June 2025 for further investigations and for Legal Aid to confirm whether it is taking his case. The couple remain in custody after they were denied bail.

Wilken, 35, and Moodley, 25, were arrested in January. They face charges of possession, acquiring and disbursement of child abuse material.

The state said it would add a money laundering charge later once it had concluded the financial investigation.