Child porn convict seeks Internet access in prison

Grahamstown businessman Anthony Evans, who was in 2015 sentenced to a decade in jail for the key role he played in a notorious online international child pornography ring, has resorted to court in a bid to get access to the Internet while in prison, says a Daily Dispatch report. The Eastern Cape High Court (Grahamstown) last week condoned the Correctional Services Department’s late filing of its opposition papers in the application, saying it was a matter that required both sides to be argued. Evans’ counsel, Advocate Craig Renaud, argued against Correctional Services being given an opportunity to file their papers so late in the day. He said Evans, who is doing a BSc Statistics through Unisa, urgently required access to You Tube tutorials and lectures. He said it was frustrating for Evans that almost every other inmate furthering their studies while incarcerated at the Grahamstown Correctional Centre had access to a laptop and the Internet. But lawyer for the Correctional Services Department, Advocate Hendrik van der Linde, SC, said this was no ordinary case, noting Evans ‘was convicted of child pornography and is bringing an application for Internet access’. Judge Thamie Beshe said that she would condone the failure on the part of Correctional Services to comply with the time frames dictated by the rules of court. Even though there had been a litany of errors and inefficiency on the part of the State Attorney’s Office, the matter was of sufficient public importance and interest involving the balancing of constitutional rights and needed to be properly argued. Beshe ordered Correctional Services to foot the legal bill for the postponement and the application.