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Knysna estate agent Adrian Wilson-Forbes was acquitted on all 79 charges relating to child rape and other sexual offences involving children in the Thembalethu Magistrates Court near George on Friday, after the court found, despite a lengthy trial, it was "still in the dark" about what exactly happened between him and the alleged victims.
Judge Patricia Goliath said the onus was on the state to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was guilty, but that she had to accept that Wilson-Forbes' version of what happed - "although improbable" could "reasonably possibly" be true.
Wilson-Forbes was relieved and struggled to keep his emotions at bay after judgment was delivered and was overwhelmed with joy when his lawyer Oliff D'Olivera said "let's take you home".
"I am so relieved, but now I need to start rebuilding my life," said Wilson-Forbes. He added that he would take it "one step at a time" and consider what the future held for him. "I'm not sure we have a future left here (in Knysna)."
The charges he was acquitted of included various sexual offences ranging from child rape to abduction and creation of child pornography involving three girls and one boy. During the trial 29 photographs of Wilson-Forbes - posing in precarious positions with an eight-year-old - were submitted as evidence.
The state alleged that on various occasions one of the complainants recruited young children for Wilson-Forbes who then performed various sexual acts on them and at times requested photographs to be taken. He denied this and said when the 29 photographs were taken, he had been a victim of extortion and had been forced by the complainant to pose for the photographs which were later used as leverage to blackmail him for R50000.
Goliath ciricised both Wilson-Forbes and one of the main complainants - the 22-year-old hairdresser he claimed blackmailed him.
She said this young man, who claimed he was raped by Wilson-Forbes when he was only 11-years-old, was a very weak witness who manipulated police and tried to deceive the court.
She further said he deliberately tried to deceive the court when it came to his age as well as that of the girls, to paint a picture that the accused had a sexual appetite for young children. Goliath said the state could not prove how old the victims were or when the incidents took place. Initially it was alleged that the first incidents happened during 2001, when the young man was 11-years old and references were made to the Garden Route Mall. During the course of the trial it came to light that the mall had not been constructed until 2005. The witness then made an admission that he could have been wrong about the timeframe, but Goliath said his real age could not be backed up by concrete evidence.
"A reasonable possibility then exists that they were older than 16," Goliath said.
In his testimony the young man said he went to police with photographs he took of Wilson-Forbes and the naked girl as he wanted to stop him from hurting other girls. He convinced police to make an illegal copy of the photographs which he then handed over to Wilson-Forbes as he "feared his life was in danger".
Goliath said she believed police underestimated his intelligence and that he manipulated them into making a copy of the images so that you could give it back to Wilson-Forbes at a price. "There was not a shred of evidence of threats. What must the court make of this?"
She further said the only reason the police made a copy was because they thought they were "saving his life" and would never have done had known he would receive money in return.
"The court can therefore not condone the way the accused was placed in possession of the pornographic material."
