MXit fetishist arrested
2009-08-27 08:54
Durban - A man was arrested after he allegedly recruited teenage girls on MXit to treat him like a baby and change his dirty nappies in exchange for a fee.
After his arrest in Durban's exclusive Morningside suburb just over two weeks ago, the 23-year-old man apparently related how he had practised this fetish since the age of 12, said Brian Jones, managing director of SA Community Action Network (SA Can).
After a trap was set for the man, the police found a plastic bag containing about forty dirty nappies in his room, as well as baby bottles and dummies, which the girls are believed to have used to treat him like a baby.
Apparently he recruited girls between the ages of 13 and 17 for this purpose, and paid them between R100 and R500 for their services.
Photographs
Although the man is currently facing charges of crimen injuria and the transgression of the Law on Electronic Communication, the police are also said to have found photographs of young girls masturbating on the man's cellphone.
"This leads to the suspicion that he paid the young girls to perform sexual acts so that he could film them with his cellphone," said Jones.
The man apparently had a habit of going out with underage girls. "He discussed his fetish with his friends, but it seems that nobody had taken him seriously."
According to Jones, his organisation - which works with the police to compile strategies against crime - started receiving a large number of complaints about two months ago from people who said that they were being harassed by means of cellphone calls and SMSes.
Finally, a mother of three made sure the man was brought to book.
Trap
Bianca Hornsby, 31, received a strange SMS at the end of July, from someone who wanted her to add him as a friend on MXit, and wanted to arrange a meeting.
"I realised the man thought I was a primary school girl, and I wanted to find out exactly what he had in mind," Hornsby said on Wednesday.
She contacted SA Can and a trap was set just over a week later, with the help of a private detective and the police.
Jones pointed out that increasing numbers of problems are starting to emerge regarding the use of MXit.