Sat 24 October 2020:
A 43-year-old man who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the KwaDukuza Regional Court on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast.
In June 2019, Jacobus Pieter De Wet was delivering magazines to a chain store in Ballito when he forgot his cell phone on the counter.
The staff, who found the phone, accessed it in order to establish its owner.
It was then discovered that there were 420 images of child pornography on his phone.
These were inappropriate images of unknown children, ranging from ages three months to 16 years.
KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkissoon-Kara says, “The 43-year-old accused was sentenced to an effective 10 years imprisonment in the KwaDukuza Magistrate’s Court after pleading guilty to possession of Child Pornography. Along with the sentence, the court ordered that his name be entered into the national register of sex offenders.”
In February 2020, Gauteng police arrested five men from across the province for allegedly being in possession of explicit child pornography images and videos.
One of the suspects was a daycare owner.
The men were arrested between 10 and 14 February in a joint law enforcement operation.
During the operation, dubbed “Operation Moonlight”, police seized computers, hard drives, flash drives, tablets and cellphones which contain explicit child pornography material.
