[imagesource: Gerhard Ackerman]

Gerhard Ackerman should be a household name so that everyone can protect their kids.

This monster of a man is accused of over 700 counts, many of them related to him allegedly running a child sex ring, in the biggest case of child pornography to come before the High Court in Johannesburg.

Last week, the 50-year-old pleaded not guilty to each of the 740 counts of running a child sex trafficking ring alongside his co-accused, the late acting judge and Commission of Inquiry into State Capture evidence leader Paul Kennedy, between September 2020 and July 2021.

Kennedy died by suicide in February. However, the court stated that Ackerman, basically South Africa’s very own Jeffrey Epstein, will stand trial for both their crimes.

The Citizen reveals that the charges include creating child pornography, attempted murder, several counts of rape, human trafficking, several counts of sexual assault, sexual exploitation of children, and benefitting from the sexual exploitation of children to sexual grooming of children.

In August 2021, TimesLIVE reported that an indictment before the high court revealed details of how the advocate and his co-accused allegedly used social media to lure minor boys into human trafficking, sexual exploitation, grooming, assault, and rape:

The court heard he “unlawfully and intentionally had in his possession a cellphone which contained 253 videos of child pornography”.

These included videos and pictures advocating, advertising, encouraging and promoting child pornography in sexual acts, conduct or exploitation. Unknown children appearing to be under 18 pose naked, engage in sexual acts or conduct of sexual violation or exploitation with unknown adults and other children.

The debased pair is also accused of trafficking minor teenagers and sexually grooming them before selling their services to other adult clients for money.

It gets more harrowing.

The attempted murder charge alleges that Ackerman unlawfully and intentionally attempted to kill a 16-year-old by handing the teen to Kennedy for sexual acts despite knowing that Kennedy was HIV positive.

Besides mostly luring the teens over social media, asking them for explicit content in exchange for money, Ackerman would also allegedly identify children at swim schools and holiday resorts.

Ackerman was out on bail after last week’s adjournment of his case (terrifying) and was seen immediately walking out of the Johannesburg high court.

He was then set to appear in court last week Thursday but didn’t end up pitching, citing ill health, Sowetan Live reported.

When investigating officers visited his home on Friday, they found he had sold all his belongings and disappeared. State advocate Valencia Dube approached the court with an urgent application on Saturday to have Ackerman’s bail revoked after his failure to comply with the court order to furnish the state with a doctor’s note on Friday.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on Saturday and he was cuffed on Sunday in Florida, west of Joburg, after he was spotted by members of the public.

EWN reports that he was allegedly trying to kill himself over the weekend:

The court heard how one of the witnesses who spoke to police told them Ackerman was planning on moving to the Western Cape, and that he was looking for a gun to kill himself because he did not want to go to prison.

In 2021, he was granted R6 000 bail by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on condition that he report to the nearest police station on a daily basis.

Ackerman is back in the dock for trial, which is set to continue in court on Monday as previously scheduled before his disappearance.

Hopefully, this monster gets locked up for good.

[sources:citizen&timeslive&sowetanlive&ewn]