The case against a Port Elizabeth couple accused of being part of a syndicate that distributed images of babies being abused has been postponed in the city’s magistrate’s court.
A 33-year-old man and 22-year-old woman from Westering appeared briefly in court on Tuesday. They are alleged to be part of an international child pornography ring that distributed footage of the rape, torture and murder of babies and newborns.
State Advocate, Jason Thysse told the court the matter was sensitive in nature and that an investigating team in Johannesburg was working together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Belgian police.
Thysse said that the team would come down to Port Elizabeth on May 16 so that certain material could be viewed together with the couple’s new lawyer Paul Roelofse.
He said that sensitive material, namely the “pornographic material”, would not form part of the docket.
Charges against the couple relate to the importing, possession and distribution of films or publications which contain depictions or descriptions which encourage or promote child pornography or the sexual exploitation of children.
At their first court appearance in April last year, the man told reporters that the media was blowing the case out of proportion and did not know the full story. He said people were judging him.
At the time, the commander of the Gauteng-based Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, Heila Niemand, made a special trip to Port Elizabeth for the couple’s court appearance.
She said that after the arrest of the PE couple, 81 other leads were being followed up internationally.
She also said, at the time, that there were already six arrests in Belgium and three arrests in the United States of people who allegedly belonged to the same network.
The case was postponed provisionally until May 17, a day after the viewing session.
-African News Agency (ANA)
