Barbie out on bail
2010-02-24 16:42
Pretoria - Convicted child molester Cézanne Visser, also known as "Advocate Barbie" only spent about an hour-and-a-half behind bars on Wednesday before being released on bail again.
This was after she was sentenced to seven years in prison for abusing young girls and women.
Acting Judge Chris Eksteen in the North Gauteng High Court refused Visser leave to appeal against his finding on the merits of the case.
He nevertheless granted her bail pending the outcome of her application to the Supreme Court of Appeal for leave to appeal.
Her bail was increased from R5 000 to R10 000 and she had to hand her passport to the prosecutor.
Appropriate sentence
If the Appeal Court turns down her application, Visser will have to report to the registrar of the high court within 48 hours to start serving her seven year jail term.
There was no other appropriate sentence, given the seriousness of the crimes, Eksteen said in passing sentence.
Visser was jailed for 11 sex-related charges, including indecently assaulting two teenage girls and soliciting a teenager to commit indecent acts; indecently assaulting two women and benefiting from the indecent assault of a third; defrauding a children's home and possession and manufacturing of child pornography.
In an orderly community, Visser, with her legal qualifications, could be expected not to sexually abuse women and children, Eksteen said, finding that her remorse appeared to be "lip service".
She had tried to justify her actions and had blamed her former lover Dirk Prinsloo, for what she had done, he said.
She had rejected her conservative upbringing in favour of Prinsloo's immoral lifestyle, in the process traumatising young girls.
While the court accepted that she would not commit similar crimes again, it had to take into account the community's abhorrence and righteous indignation about crimes against women and children.
Sex slave
It accepted evidence that Prinsloo was a narcissistic and manipulative man, but stressed that none of the other women in his life had committed crimes because of his abuse.
"What he did with other women does not excuse your deeds," Eksteen told Visser.
Although Prinsloo had made Visser his sex slave and influenced her conduct, she knew the difference between right and wrong and nevertheless decided to satisfy him.
In the process, she had involved young girls from children's homes who were already at a disadvantage and were particularly vulnerable to wrong influences, Eksteen said.
- SAPA