A 42-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for exposing young boys and girls, aged between seven and 13-years-old, to pornographic material and grooming them into sexual relationships by providing them with food, alcohol and cash in order to keep the relationships a secret.

Moreover, he would manipulate the victims by coercing them into sexual acts on him.

The offender’s name is withheld to protect the identity of his minor victims.

The Kimberley Regional Court handed down the sentence to the perpetrator who would lure the children to the veld adjacent to Gariep Hospital in El Toro Park, Kimberley between 2019 and 2021.

Police investigations led to the arrest of the offender in September 2021 and due to evidence brought against him the perpetrator was denied bail and remained in police custody until he was convicted on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.

The offender was charged under the Films and Publication Act, Act 65/1997.

The Northern Cape provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola, applauded Detective Sergeant Gwyneth Paulsen for her diligence in investigating the case.

Furthermore, Otola pleaded with the public to join the police in warning child abusers, that the Northern Cape will not tolerate paedophiles' heinous actions, and that children must be loved and protected from harm.

The court ordered the accused's name to be entered in the National Sex Offenders Register.

IOL