Belhar man, 26, faces court over child pornography charges

Just days after a 27-year-old man was sentenced in Paarl for his conviction on 629 counts of possession of child pornography, a 26-year-old man appeared in the Bellville Magistrate's Court this week for allegedly being in possession of 200 photographs of child pornography.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said the man’s laptop and cellphone was confiscated and will form part of evidence.

“The NPA can confirm that a 26-year-old man from Belhar appeared in the Bellville Magistrate's Court (Wednesday), charged with illegal possession of 200 photos of child pornography which were found in his laptop and cellphone,” Ntabazalila said. 

“He is also charged with downloading child pornographic images, downloading child pornographic images from the internet, distribution of child pornographic images and viewing child pornographic images. 

“His case has been postponed until June 17, 2025, for bail information and for Legal Aid to come on record.”

Earlier in the week, the 27-year-old was found guilty on two counts of trafficking in persons for online exploitation; four counts of rape of two minor children; three counts of using children for or benefiting from child phonography; 629 counts of possession of child pornography; three counts of unlawful and intentional distribution of child pornography; and three counts of child abuse. 

The court sentenced the accused to a total of 195 years but ordered most of the sentences to run concurrently, leaving him to serve 35 years direct imprisonment. 

He cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his children who were violated during the commission of the crimes. 

The children include two girls aged six, another girl aged four, and a one-year-old boy. 

Ntabazalila said when he got married in March 2018, he was unemployed and stayed at home with the minor children.

It was also further revealed that he subscribed to a social media application with instant messaging where he could receive messages, photos and videos, and that was how he would communicate privately with other users and groups.

He admitted that he made the content of his biological children with the intent to share it with random people online in exchange for money. 

The man claimed that he created an unknown amount of child porn material using his three biological children.

He also confessed that during chats with the administrative user, he shared the images of his children and sold it to an unknown user for $5 to $10.

He was arrested on May 30, 2023, after an online undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Task Force Officer assigned to the Washington Field Office as part of the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, operating from a satellite office in Washington, DC, acted as the administrative user of the group on social media application forwarded information about his activities to the SAPS for further investigation on December 22, 2022. 

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