/ 8 February 2010

Advocate Barbie should not face jail time, court hears

Convicted sex offender Cezanne Visser, also known as Advocate Barbie, should not face jail time for her crimes, forensic criminologist Eon Sonnekus told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday.

In mitigation of sentence, Sonnekus recommended that the appropriate punishment should be a suspended sentence or that of rigorous correctional supervision and rehabilitation.

“The offender has shown remorse over the incidents and the traumatic affect it has had on the victims. The sincere remorse of the offender to the victims is indicative of the rehabilitation that is already under way,” he said.

Sonnekus based his recommendations on Visser’s testimony during the trial and subsequent consultations with her, her family and work colleagues.

He said that, combined with this display of remorse, Visser was also a first-time offender with no previous convictions.

Other factors in mitigation included Visser’s severe and deteriorating depression prior to and during the time the sexual offences of minors and adults had been committed.

This depression had also contributed to her inability to resist the manipulation of the alleged instigator of the crimes, former boyfriend Dirk Prinsloo.

Visser was convicted in October of 11 of 14 sex-related charges. These included soliciting a 15-year-old to perform indecent acts, indecently assaulting 11-year-old and 14-year-old girls and the possession and manufacture of child pornography.

Prinsloo was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Belarus court last month for theft, assault and attempted bank robbery. He also faces sex-related charges in the high court in Pretoria. — Sapa