Former advocate shredded in damning sex ring ruling

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) last week found Gerhard Ackerman guilty of multiple charges linked to a major child sex abuse ring that he masterminded. Legalbrief reports that he was convicted of several hundred counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of producing child pornography. In addition, Ackerman was found to have exposed himself to minors, and to have groomed his victims to have sex with those who made use of his child sex ring. The National Prosecuting Authority says it is eyeing others involved with Ackerman, as organisations against child abuse and parents claim his conviction as a victory for his victims across the country. One of Ackerman's clients was Paul Kennedy, a then high-profile advocate who served an acting judge on several occasions. News24 reports that the court found that Ackerman had sent at least one teenage boy to Kennedy, knowing that the lawyer was HIV positive. Before Kennedy took his own life last year, he was charged alongside Ackerman. Ackerman faced 740 charges, including possession of child pornography, rape, human trafficking, sexual grooming of a child, sexual assault and the sexual exploitation of children.

Full News24 report

Watch: Unpacking the judgment

During the trial, evidence was led to prove that Ackerman had found young teenage boys on social media, trafficked them, sexually groomed them and sold their sexual services to a large list of clients. Ismail found that Ackerman had trafficked teenagers and harboured them at his residence. The court rejected the accused's version that the children had joined voluntarily. Ismail found, instead, that Ackerman had taken advantage of the teenagers, who came from impoverished and difficult backgrounds. The Cape Argus reports that Ismail, who was scathing in his judgment, accused Ackerman of lying under oath after he testified that his massage parlour business did not sanction acts of sexual exploitation beyond the golden rule of a happy ending. The judge also confirmed that Ackerman had deliberately exploited children and targeted their disadvantaged family circumstances and vulnerability, because most of the young boys came from challenged households. ‘The argument that they consented is a lie, as he exploited their vulnerability as most of the children came from troubled homes. So essentially, he took advantage of their state by offering them a place to stay and money, and his testimony that he was working to gain their trust is testament to that,’ he said. TimesLIVE reports that Ismail said Kennedy had played a pivotal role in aiding Ackerman. ‘Mr Kennedy was a participant in this matter, he financed the transportation of some of the victims from their places of residence to Ackerman’s places. ‘He was the only client where the boys went to his home. He also financially assisted Mr Ackerman with his day-to-day expenses.’ Kennedy had also commissioned Ackerman to get the boys filmed in graphic videos and paid for those videos.

– Cape Argus

Full TimesLIVE report