Tears of a monster

CONVICTED paedophile Warren Knoop bawled his eyes out in the Johannesburg High Court, hoping to tug at the judge’s heartstrings and get a lesser sentence. Many criminals have tried this tactic before – crocodile tears.

The 40-year-old Ekurhuleni car salesman cried bitterly in court, begging for help and claiming he suffered from depression, sexual addiction and suicidal tendencies.

This man, who fondled a child as young as a year old and recorded himself masturbating on her, expected the court to show some sympathy after sexually grooming children and exposing his genitals to them.

Some of the girls were children of women he was dating. Children who saw him as a father figure. But he betrayed their trust, taking their innocence and turning them into material for child pornography.

But what is perhaps more disturbing is his statements that he had experienced and witnessed despicable and horrendous things in jail since his incarceration.

Was the court expected to overlook all the despicable and horrendous things he did to little children just to spare him from experiencing the same in jail?

Thankfully, Judge Cassim Moosa managed to look beyond the façade of snot and tears and slapped him with 32 life terms and 117 years’ imprisonment for the 867 counts of, among others, using a child for purposes of child pornography and rape.

THE SENTENCE cannot take away the pain and suffering caused, but we can only hope it’ll send out a strong message to other child molesters. While he languishes in jail, everything should be done to ensure that the affected children receive support. One of the girls, aged only 12, has suicidal tendencies and is currently receiving trauma counselling. That is not a way for a girl that age to live. She has been robbed of a chance of having a happy, memorable childhood.

Mothers of these children also need support, as they are probably consumed by feelings of guilt for allowing this man near their children. To help rebuild their children, they themselves need to heal and be mentally and emotionally strong.