Nine members of a Pretoria family appeared in the Pretoria North Regional Court on Thursday on a string of charges relating to sexually assaulting children.
Magistrate Pieter Nel postponed the matter to January 16, as some of the accused did not have legal representatives. He said a trial date would be set in January.
The couples and the unmarried son of one of the couples face more than 100 charges under the Sexual Offences Act. They are aged between 26 and 61.
They face charges including raping and sexually assaulting children, sexually grooming children, exposing children to pornography and benefiting from child pornography.
Prosecutor Tania Carstens said the state was ready to proceed with the trial.
Activists
As the group left the court premises, they were surrounded by scores of chanting anti-abuse activists waving placards which read, “Hou Hulle In Die Tronk” (Keep them in jail), “Kinder Verkragting = Lewensvonnis” (Child abuse = life sentence) and “Life Sentences For Child Rapists”.
Eight members of the family were granted R15 000 bail each in November after appealing to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. A Pretoria North magistrate earlier refused them bail.
Six children, aged four and older, were allegedly used in sex movies which were then distributed. Four other children were removed from the care of the accused and sent for psychological and medical examinations. — Sapa