New police unit guns for sharing of child pornography

Serial and electronic crimes investigation team will mainly combat cybercrime across clusters

AGGRESSIVE attempts by the SAPS to combat violent sexual crimes are bearing fruit, but police are now dealing with a new phenomenon – the sharing of child pornography.

To counter the scourge, police spokesperson Vish Naidoo said the SAPS had established the serial and electronic crimes investigation (SECI) unit within the family violence, child protection and sexual offences (FCS) unit.

The new unit would mainly combat cybercrime across clusters, he said in a statement.

Police had recently secured significant and hefty sexual violence convictions, while several other suspects faced similar prospects.

Early this month, Warren Troy Knoop, 40, was sentenced to 32 life terms and 170 years in prison for 870 crimes of rape, exploitation, sexual assault and child pornography. The case received worldwide media coverage.

The sentence was one of many that have been handed down to sexual offenders recently.

Former model agency boss Dawie de Villiers, from Kempton Park, was found guilty of 25 charges of sexual-related crimes. The court found that he sexually exploited and defrauded young women in the modelling industry. He will be sentenced on March 8.

Naidoo said the arrests and convictions were confirmation that the police were dedicated to bringing to justice those responsible for offences committed against women and children.

The high court in Grahamstown will on Friday hear the case against 28-year-old Lonwabo Solontsi.

He is accused of raping 40 women aged between 16 and 46. He is currently serving a life sentence for raping a woman when he was 22.

“Another alleged serial rapist, a 48-year-old man, was arrested in the Northern Cape after months of intensive investigations, and he was charged with several counts of rape. The case has been postponed to March 6,” Naidoo added.

He said 346 life sentences for rape and sexual-related offences had been secured across the country during this financial year.

“The numerous arrests and successful prosecutions are the outcome of the dedication and commitment of the SAPS members attached to the 176 FCS units across the country,” he said.

The FCS units were re-established in 2010 after being disbanded in 2006.

Naidoo added: “Since their re-establishment, the FCS units have made a significant impact in successfully fighting these crimes. As a result, in the 2015/2016 financial year, the conviction rate for crimes against children (people younger than 18 years) increased to 77.36%. The conviction rate for crimes against women (people older than 18) increased to 82.85%.”

He added that the SAPS had established 1 046 victim-friendly rooms at police stations. Here, he said, “victims can be interviewed and statements taken in private by well-trained staff”.

He added: “While the SAPS has been dealing a decisive blow to the perpetrators of crimes against women, children and other vulnerable groups, the sexual exploitation of children online remains a matter of concern.”

A Vredenburg, Western Cape, couple were also recently arrested after they allegedly sold pornographic material of their 14-year-old daughter.

The arrest came after the SECI unit received information from US Homeland Security when they arrested a man in North Carolina in October last year for being in possession of pornographic material of the South African girl.

The parents are in custody facing 10 charges of rape; sexual assault; manufacturing, possession and distribution of pornographic material; and sexual exploitation of a child.

They appeared in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday and have been remanded in custody until this week.

Online sexual exploitation is a matter of concern