BLOEMFONTEIN – The criminal case against a Brackenfell 50-year-old man accused of child sexual abuse is set to continue in the Bloemfontein Sexual Offences Court on 17 November. The suspect’s identity is known to NovaNews.
He has been remanded in custody over five months following his arrest in Brackenfell in the Western Cape. The suspected child sexual predator’s arrest pertains to allegations of cyber sexual offences involving two teenage boys, aged 15 and 16 years. The boys reside in Dewetsdorp, a town located approximately 70 km outside Bloemfontein.
The suspect first appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrates’ Court in May and thereafter he was transported to the Free State. The matter continues in the Bloemfontein Sexual Offences Court after it was transferred from Dewetsdorp.
Mojalefa Senokoatsane, spokesperson for the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) of South Africa, says the matter against the suspect has been transferred to the Sexual Offences Court for consultation purposes on the said date.
The Free State Provincial Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations (SECI) unit traced and arrested the man in Brackenfell. Sgt Mahlomola Kareli, spokesperson for the Free State police, had said the investigative team had seized electronic devices during the arrest of the suspect. His arrest follows a complaint lodged by a clinical psychologist at a school in Dewetsdorp early in February this year.
According to the police, the suspect faces multiple charges, ranging from sexual exploitation, grooming and facilitating the creation of child pornography. The police stated that an investigation discovered that he allegedly exploited the two boys by luring them with false promises of gifts in exchange for sexually explicit videos and images.
