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A 38-year-old man who coerced and forced a minor to send him naked pictures and videos has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Ashley Perrins was convicted and sentenced in the Goodwood Magistrates Court this week.
Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Eric Ntabalaziza says Perrins was convicted on 1 208 charges, including a count of sexual grooming a 13-year-old, 290 counts of using a child for/ or benefitting from child pornography, 290 counts of possession of child pornography, a count of distribution of child pornography and 329 counts of compelled self-sexual assault.
He says it all started when Perrins sent the victim a friend request on Facebook pretending to be a 14-year-old boy.
Evidence was led in court how the victim started communicating with Perrins on a daily basis on Facebook Messenger as she regarded him as a friend and potential boyfriend.
Ntabalaziza says he first asked her for a photograph and she complied, but in 2020 he started asking more intimate questions and convinced the victim to give him her WhatsApp number so that they could continue communicating.
He says Perrins then asked her to send him several photos of her naked body and eventually requested videos where he would instruct her what to do.
The NPA says at first the victim refused but Perrins threatened to share her images on social media.
Ntabalaziza says although the victim felt uncomfortable she sent him a total of 121 videos.
He says when Perrins confessed to being a 38-year-old man she blocked him on social media.
Perrins then used a different number where he continued to threaten the victim by exposing her if she did not comply with his requests.
During this time the victim discovered that Perrins had also sent friend requests to her friends, using her profile picture.
They too, were asked to send naked photographs.
Ntabalaziza says a year later Perrins wanted to meet in person and ordered an Uber for her to meet him at a shopping mall.
He says at the mall he tried to kiss her but she refused and managed to persuade him to let her go back home.
In February 2021, the victim's father saw one of the videos on Facebook and she told him what had happened.
The father told a friend who managed to trace Perrins and a case was opened with SAPS.
Ntabalaziza says he was eventually arrested at his place of work and his phone, containing all the evidence, was confiscated.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell, welcomed the sentence but pleaded with young people not to befriend strangers on social media.
