Child-porn suspect found hanged
2006-04-24 08:03
George - A man from Stilbaai in the Southern Cape, who was arrested with a young woman for the allegedly making and distributing child pornography, committed suicide in prison at the weekend.
Allen Harmony, 37, was arrested with Rosa Maria Toich, 19, on December 5 last year on Riethuiskraal farm near Stilbaai after explicit photographs and videos of girls aged between 9 and 14 were found in their possession.
Harmony, who appeared with Toich in Riversdale magistrate's court last Monday, was found dead in the shower at George Prison about 03:30 on Saturday.
Police spokesperson Constable Ntobeko Manqgwenqgwe said a warder doing his rounds noticed that Harmony was not in his bed.
He apparently sent a prisoner to check the bathrooms for the missing inmate.
"A piece of cloth was tied to Harmony's neck and the other end was tied to the shower tap," said Manqgwenqgwe.
Reconciled with his father
Harmony's parents, Jack and Jenny Reynders, didn't want to talk to the
media.
"It's a private matter and we don't want to discuss it," said Jenny Reynders.
A friend of the family said Harmony's parents "were not aware of what their son apparently was doing".
"His arrest and death have touched them deeply. At least Allen was reconciled with his father shortly after his arrest following years of ill-feeling between them."
Jacques Fivaz, the prosecutor in the child pornography case, said the "whole situation regarding the case will have to be reconsidered".
Harmony and Toich faced two charges of rape, two of being accessories to rape, and charges relating to the contravention of the Films and Publications Act, the Child Pornography Act and the Sexual Offences Act.