Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
24 foreign charges await sex offender
Local court to decide on extradition
THE WYNBERG Magistrate’s Court is expected to hold a formal extradition enquiry to determine whether a confessed paedophile, wanted in Australia in connection with child sex allegations, should be handed over to police in that country.
Anthony Peter Freedendal, 75, is already behind bars in Pollsmoor Prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting eight children locally.
He was to have been released on August 5 and serve the remainder of his five-year sentence under correctional supervision.
However, Freedendal was kept behind bars after authorities in Pretoria received a request via Interpol for his provisional arrest so he could be extradited to face child sex charges in South Australia.
The charges, according to the warrant of arrest, include the sexual exploitation of a child, indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse .
Parole authorities were forced to arrange an 11th-hour meeting to discuss the request and decided to cancel his release.
On Thursday he appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, where it emerged the State was not yet in possession of a formal request for Freedendal’s extradition.
State advocate Esmeralda Cecil told the court Freedendal was wanted in connection with 24 charges.
She requested two months to arrange for the necessary documents.
However, attorney William Booth said his client was being held irregularly.
He said there seemed to be no extradition documents and that the State had not produced a formal request for his client’s extradition.
In addition, the defence did not know what information was before the magistrate who issued the warrant for Freedendal’s provisional arrest.
Booth placed on record that the State’s request for a two-month postponement had major implications for his client.
A formal extradition enquiry will be held on October 4.
In April last year Freedendal, who has South African and Australian citizenship, pleaded guilty to 15 sex assault charges in the Cape Town Regional Court and admitted to sexually abusing three boys and five girls in Cape Town.
In a plea and sentencing agreement with the State, it emerged he had attended the same church as the victims and that he had sexually abused them when he took them, on separate occasions, to his home for “sleepovers”.
He was sentenced to five years in jail in terms of Section 276(1)(i) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, which means he had to serve a sixth of his sentence behind bars and the rest under correctional supervision.
The court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.
Freedendal has made several appearances before the Parole Board since reaching the 10-month mark.
Each time his bid for release was unsuccessful, until three weeks ago when the board confirmed his release date for August 5.
fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za