Teens’ concerns of testifying may weaken ‘Porn Pastor’ case

THE reluctance of victims to testify against the Common Ground Church youth leader accused of the serial sexual grooming of more than 60 teenage boy congregants could see him walk free.

This emerged after yet another appearance of the 26- year- old this week in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, where the State asked for a three-month postponement to finalise its case against him.

The suspect, dubbed the “Porn Pastor”, has appeared in court four times since his September arrest on charges of sexual grooming of children and the failure to immediately report sexual offences against children after his victims unwittingly approached him for counselling.

He was arrested by members of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit at Rondebosch Common Ground Church on September 6 following a tip- off from a senior church official whose 14-year-old son had allegedly been groomed.

He provided a full admission to detectives which revealed that he had allegedly groomed over 60 teenage boys over two years.

According to police sources, he created several aliases of sexy teenage girls on Instagram and WhatsApp to entice his young teenage congregants to send him naked photos of themselves. If they refused he threatened to out them on social media.

Alleged victims also told police how in panic and fear they had sought the suspect’s counsel, not knowing that he was behind the grooming.

Daringly, he allegedly told some of the boys in his pastoral care to continue supplying naked photos.

Yet despite the evidence against him, the State has delayed officially charging the man. Consequently he cannot be identified.

Now sources have revealed that one of the reasons for the delay is that only about a dozen of the more than 60 alleged victims have provided witness statements. There is also uncertainty, said the source, whether all 12 will be prepared to testify in court.

Sources revealed that two of the State’s chief witnesses are exchange students who will be returning to South Africa only in April. Their absence has complicated legal consultations with them, said the sources.

Speculation by informed sources is that the longer this case drags on, the more the appetite to testify will wane.

It’s understood that parents of the victims are reluctant to drag their sons through the legal process. That reluctance may intensify once the suspect is charged and asked to plead and his defence files a request for particulars.

“I think the lack of witnesses is because some parents have told police, ‘you can interview my son but I’m not allowing him to be called as a witness’,” said a source who declined to be named.

Those particulars are believed to include a request for all witness statements, including those from boys who do not want to testify.

But what might scare parents even more will be the defence’s request for all data and records provided by witnesses, including the teenagers’ internet histories, their data storage and all their social media accounts.

Their fear is that this access could uncover a history of the victims exchanging intimate photos of themselves with minor girls in contravention of the Sexual Offences Act before they did so with the suspect.

Reliable sources close to the case say that this might well force the State into entering into a plea bargain with the suspect that does not include jail time.

Most of the alleged victims are Common Ground congregants, but some pupils from the surrounding schools in the Rondebosch area were also caught up in the pornographic web.

Although the suspect was a paid employee at Rondebosch Common Ground Church, which he joined as an intern in 2014, he was working as a youth pastor at Common Ground Constantiaberg in Orpen Road at the time of his arrest.

A University of Cape Town master’s degree graduate in environmental and geographical science, the suspect is also a professional sports photographer well-known on the school sports fields around Rondebosch and the beaches of Peninsula surfing spots.

Both Common Ground Church and the suspect’s lawyer declined to comment.