Convicted child sex offender, Gerhard Ackerman has been found guilty of molesting a young boy at a Gauteng country club in August 2018.
In June this year, IOL reported that Ackerman forced the youngster to touch his private parts at the Morningside Country Club.
At the time, police officer William Chauke told the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court that Ackerman entered the club during swimming lessons and went into the changeroom where a group of boys were changing. He then masturbated in front of the boys.
After he was confronted by the establishment’s security guards, he fled the scene, got into a white BMW and drove through the boom gate, breaking the boom gate.
Chauke said police managed to track Ackerman down and he was arrested. In court, Ackerman claimed that it was a case of mistaken identity. He did, however, concede that he was at the venue on the day of the incident.
News24 reported that Ackerman exposed himself to two young boy cousins, aged seven and nine, at a camping site in Hartenbos in the Western Cape in December 2007.
Two years later he did the same thing to the youngsters and was found guilty of exposure or display of genital organs to children and sexual grooming – again, Ackerman claimed it was not him.
In July 2018, Ackerman exposed himself to a young boy at a Sunninghill swimming pool.
In August this year, Ackerman was sentenced to 12 life terms in the High Court in Johannesburg on the more than 700 charges related to him running a child trafficking ring.
He was sentenced on charges of rape, human trafficking, attempted murder and malicious damage to property. In handing down his Ackerman’s sentence, Judge Mohamed Ismail declared Ackerman unfit to work with children. He added the accused showed no remorse throughout the trial.
Moments after he was sentenced, Ackerman fired his legal representation and asked for a retrial.
Ismail instructed Ackerman to file his motion for a retrial with the court and State by November 15 and the motion for retrial will be heard on November 30.
Ackerman was convicted on charges including attempted murder, rape, sexual exploitation of children and sex trafficking. Ackerman was charged alongside acting judge and senior advocate Paul Kennedy. The two ran the human trafficking ring between September 2020 and July 2021. Kennedy died by suicide.
IOL