Child porn suspect gets R500 bail

A DURBAN man believed to be part of a syndicate was arrested by police for possessing and distributing pornographic images of a US teenager.

Gauteng-based detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit arrested the 29-year-old man after being alerted to the case by US authorities.

Two other suspects in South Africa are still at large.

The wheelchair-bound man, who cannot be named until he pleads, appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested on Tuesday and released on R500 bail.

The anti-abuse organisation Women and Men against Child Abuse said yesterday that the bail amount was shock- ingly inappropriate and there was no consistency with how the courts were dealing with such cases.

According to the charge sheet, the State did not oppose bail and the man told the court he was unemployed and lived on a disability grant of R1 100 and assistance from his family.

He said he was unable to afford any amount of bail, but bail was set at R500 and paid.

Brigadier Vishnu Naidu said the arrest was as a result of the police’s ongoing Operation Cloud 9, where South Africa’s police were working closely with their international counterparts.

Naidu said communication between the man and the minor was being done through a mobile application called KIK. The man will appear in court next year.