Johannesburg - The Film and Publication Board (FPB) says the long-term psychological damage to an abused child is multiplied when the images that have been circulated online are easily accessed.
This comes after 12 life sentences were handed to Gerhard Ackerman for possession of child pornography by the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, on Monday.
“The FPB played a crucial role in conducting analyses of the images found in the possession of Ackerman, which were crucial to his successful prosecution. The court accepted the FPB’s content analysis report, drafted by the Child Protection Team,” said the board.
According to the statement, both the State and defence adopted the content analysis report and confirmed its accuracy without any amendments.
“The charges were brought against Mr Ackerman, according to the Films and Publications Act 56 of 1996, as amended, which makes the creation, possession and distribution of child pornography, as well as the exploitation of children for this purpose, a criminal offence. The 386 images found in his possession were confirmed to be Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM),” read the statement.
The CEO of the FPB, Dr Mashilo Boloka, said that they welcomed the heavy sentence and hoped it sends a strong warning to other offenders out there that, together with law enforcement agencies and other partners, they will sniff them out of the corners, wherever they are hiding.
“We shall never rest until each one of them are behind bars. This is also a historic moment for the FPB as an online content regulator. We wish to congratulate our Child Protection Team for working tirelessly in providing quality reports to court, resulting in this prosecution,” said Boloka.
Boloka said that in the FPB’s pursuit of eradicating CSAM, they employ globally certified content analysts who are trained to ascertain whether people depicted in content are children.
“FPB Child Protection Officers are trained on safety and risk assessment in the field of child protection and are certified content analysts. The rise of the digital space has made the work of the FPB and law enforcement in fighting CSAM particularly challenging. Sexual predators find an anonymous home on the internet, where it is easy to build a persona that is very different from reality and that can be used to exploit others,” added Boloka.
Meanwhile, the EFF reiterated that bail must not be granted for Schedule 6 offences. The party said that despite a 16-year history of predatory behaviour, Ackerman was granted bail, which allowed him to freely continue his heinous crimes against children unabated.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said that Ackerman was charged alongside advocate Paul Kennedy, who, after his arrest, committed suicide at his Joburg home ahead of the start of the trial in February last year. Kennedy, a former Zondo Commission prosecutor, had been out on bail at the time.
“Kennedy, however, died under suspicious circumstances in February 2022, shortly before the scheduled trial. Their crimes are linked to a covert syndicate that included child pornography, possession of child pornography, rape and statutory rape, sexual grooming and exploitation of children, and human trafficking for the purposes of sex trade,’’ the EFF said yesterday.
The Star