Child sex ring kingpin Gerhard Ackerman “did not act alone” and non-profit organisation Sonke Gender Justice has urged the police to bring his accomplices to book.
CHILD sex ring kingpin Gerhard Ackerman “did not act alone” and non-profit organisation Sonke Gender Justice has urged the police to bring his accomplices to book.
This week, the Gauteng High Court found Ackerman guilty of multiple charges linked to a child sex ring that he masterminded. Ackerman targeted vulnerable teenage boys between the ages of 14 and 16, recruiting them through Facebook before trafficking them to his so-called massage parlour in Johannesburg.
He was found guilty of more than 720 charges including rape, human trafficking, sexual grooming of children, attempted murder and the sexual exploitation of children.
Sonke’s co-executive director and co-chairperson of Global MenEngage Alliance, Bafana Khumalo, said he believed Ackerman did not act alone.
‘’We trust that the criminal justice system will vigorously pursue those connected with this crime and ensure that justice is served,’’ he said.
But Ackerman insisted the boys were 16 years old, the legal age of consent in South Africa, and did not seem to think the “happy ending” counted as a sexual act.
While being cross-examined, Ackerman told the court his number one policy at massage parlours was that no sexual intercourse took place and only “happy endings were allowed”.
However, the court was played voice notes where Ackerman gave his clients explicit sexual details of what they could do when booking the boys, including sexual intercourse.
Ackerman added that any “extras” were at the discretion of the clients and the teenage masseurs. He maintained that as long as the masseurs were 16 years old, they could masturbate the client because of the age of consent, and insisted the massages were consensual.
“A happy ending was part of the massage. Without it, the clients weren’t interested,” he said.
Ackerman said a “happy ending” was less than sex. The age of consent was also listed as a reason when the accused admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old boy. He filmed the act, and the State found two videos of the act on his phone, which it said was child pornography. The State also contended that the incident was rape.
“The boy came to visit me personally. He was a virgin and so beautiful to me that I asked if I could record it and he said, ‘yes’. He was of legal age. It’s perfectly legal,” Ackerman said.
The trial ran for three months and gripped the nation. Prosecutor, advocate Valencia Dube, led the evidence of more than a dozen witnesses and presented hard evidence in the form of WhatsApp conversations from Ackerman, as well as forensic reports on the child pornography found on his cellphone and laptop. The defence’s case only contained Ackerman’s testimony.
After the State closed its case, Ackerman brought a Section 174 discharge application, where he was acquitted of two rape charges relating to him allegedly performing oral sex on two different complainants, two boys aged 15 and 16.
The teenagers did not give evidence about the specific incidents. However, they both gave evidence on two other charges of rape where it is alleged Ackerman had penetrative sex with each of them on separate occasions.
In 2007, Ackerman was accused of exposing himself to a nine-year-old boy and his seven-year-old cousin in the bathrooms of a camping site in Hartenbos. Two years later, he allegedly exposed himself to the cousins again at the same holiday spot.
Then, in July 2018, Ackerman allegedly exposed himself to an 11-year-old boy and masturbated while recording the incident at a swimming school in Sunninghill.
After being confronted by employees at the swimming school, Ackerman allegedly fled in a vehicle, damaging the boom gate at the entrance. While not linked to this trial, during this same period Ackerman also allegedly forced an 11-year-old boy to touch his genitals in a public bathroom at an upmarket country club in Johannesburg.
The matter has been postponed to July 18 for psychology reports to be presented in court. Khumalo said Sonke looked forward to the finalisation of this matter with the envisaged sentencing in July so that the victims and their families could have closure.
