'Heinous' family child porn ring cracked

2010-12-03 08:46

Johannesburg - Police have raided four homes in Pretoria and arrested eight members of a single family, cracking what they believe could be the biggest child pornography manufacturing ring in South African history.

According to a report in The Times, the police uncovered allegations of the bizarre and sordid exploitation of children as young as 4, by their parents and grandparents.

Many of the details, including sex in a pigsty, were too graphic for The Times to publish.

Pretoria police raided the houses early on Thursday morning, arresting a grandfather, 58, grandmother, 57, their two sons, 34 and 36, from previous relationships, the grandfather's brother, 61, and his wife, 42, their mentally disabled son, 28, as well as the 26-year-old wife of one of the sons.

Groomed for sex

Detectives told the newspaper that these could turn out to be the "most heinous sexual crimes committed against innocent children".

The children were allegedly raped by their relatives and groomed to have sex with each other, all of which was filmed for child pornography.

Lead detective Warrant Officer Tonia Louwrens said: "I've never seen something this big before - not the number of adults and children involved. I felt angry. It is sick."

During the raids by 22 police officers, cellphones, computers and laptops, hard drives, memory sticks, DVDs, videotapes, firearms and other items were seized.

The children - three boys and a girl aged between 4 and 15 - were taken to places of safety for counselling and medical examinations.

Police started investigating when social workers noticed that two children - aged 6 and 8 - were not performing well at school.

- News24