THE LARGEST ring of child pornographers ever uncovered in South Africa was broken up by authorities in an early morning raid on Thursday, it was reported yesterday.
Police raided four houses north of Pretoria at 5am and arrested eight members of a single family, including grandparents and parents of young children who they allegedly sexually exploited to make pornographic films for distribution.
According to South Africa’s Times newspaper, detectives said what they found could turn out to be the “most heinous sexual crimes committed against innocent children” they have ever encountered.
It has been alleged that in order to make the material, toddlers were raped by relatives and groomed to have sex with each other. The lead detective on the case, warrant officer Tonia Louwrens, told the newspaper: “I’ve never seen something this big before – not the number of adults and children involved. I felt angry. It is sick.”
Three boys and a girl aged from four to 15 were taken from the raided homes by social workers. They were moved to places of safety to receive counselling and medical examinations. Police believe the teenage girl had been sexually abused on film by her father and mentally disabled brother.
The authorities said they started to become suspicious that a child pornographic ring was operating in Pretoria after social workers noticed two children fostered by the grandparents appeared not to be doing well at school, Ms Louwrens said.
“The children were not doing well at school and had bad report cards,” she said. “Social workers suspected negligence and sexual abuse, so the children were removed.” The two children were interviewed and assessed separately by a psychologist. When their allegations corroborated each other’s, search and seizure warrants were granted by the Pretoria north magistrates’ court.
The Timessaid many of the details of actions the children were forced to carry out were too graphic to publish.
Those arrested were a grandfather (58), grandmother (57), and their two sons (aged 34 and 36) from previous relationships; and the grandfather’s brother (61), his wife (42), and their mentally disabled son (28). A wife of one of the two sons was also arrested.
The accused will appear in court on Monday. They will face charges ranging from rape and indecent assault to sexual grooming of children, and possession, manufacturing and distribution of child pornography.