Rape accused ‘duped my son’

JUDGE ORDERS BAIL REVOCATION Father tells court teen believed he was going to train as masseuse.

The father of one of alleged sex ring kingpin Gerhard Ackerman’s accusers has told the High Court in Johannesburg how his 16-year-old son (referred to as TW in court) was lured by Ackerman and his co-accused, the late acting judge and advocate Paul Kennedy, into believing he was leaving Free State for Johannesburg to become a masseuse.

Desperate to make a life for himself and fulfil his dreams in the city of gold, the teenager stumbled upon an advertisement by Ackerman on Facebook promising young people better their lives, said the father, who the court ordered be referred to as “TW’s father”.

Judge Ismail Mahomed ordered Ackerman’s bail to be revoked after he failed to appear in court last Thursday, claiming he had food poisoning. He also ordered Ackerman be kept in custody under supervision because of claims he wanted to kill himself.

TW’s father said his son told him he was in contact with a man called Gerrie, who told him he had an opportunity for young men to make a life for themselves. “He said he would train him to become a masseuse, but he had to come to Johannesburg,” he said.

He said TW told him Gerrie would arrange everything, including a bus ticket and accommodation. The only thing TW’s father had to do was drop him at a bus station in Harrismith. However, on the day the teenager was due to travel, his father was unsettled and changed his mind, saying Gerrie’s offer had been too good to be true. “I didn’t want him to go as I was concerned…

“I told him to block his number because I did not trust Gerrie. After a week, he told me he was in contact with Gerrie again and he told me he could get Gerrie to phone me to confirm the business was legit.”

TW’s father told the court he asked Gerrie if there was any sexual contact his son would engage in while training and working.

“He said no. He said he would take 10% of what the client was paying and the 90% was for my son.”

He said he believed his son was driven by earning money because he was not in school. He said he took his son to the bus station to catch a bus to Joburg on a Monday and the agreement was that Gerrie would help his son become a masseuse.

However, things took an unfortunate turn. “I called [TW] on a Tuesday and he told me he was enjoying what he was doing. He sounded very busy so we could not speak for long, but everything sounded fine.

“On a Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from a detective that I should come to pick up my son in Harrismith. When I saw him he said he was so sorry and he should have listened to me the first time. He was very upset and traumatised,” he said

“At first, he didn’t want to speak but he then opened up and told me he had to entertain clients, massage them, give them [oral sex] then they give him [oral sex]. He also said he had to let the clients touch him, play with him and do things to him that are sexually involved.”

Ackerman’s lawyer Herman Alberts put it to TW’s father it was Kennedy who paid for the bus ticket and that TW sent sexual videos and photos and made a striptease video of himself before Kennedy would send him the bus fare. He also argued TW’s father assisted TW take the videos and pictures because “you have experience with it”. TW’S father responded: “I have no idea about this.”

Ackerman is facing more than 700 charges – ranging from rape, attempted murder, distribution of child pornography and human trafficking of minor children for sexual exploitation. The trial continues.