'Paedophile on run' loses home
2006-01-16 22:38
Cape Town - The State has attached the property of a fugitive German businessman suspected of sexually assualting young girls in the Helderberg district.
In accordance with a provisional court order issued by the Cape High Court, Werner Braun's luxury home in Somerset West and a BMW X5 were seized by the State in terms of the act on the prevention of organised crime.
Braun's lawyers have until early February to oppose the court order.
The application was brought by the national prosecuting authority.
Billy Downer, deputy director of public prosecutions, said in an affidavit that Braun had sexually assaulted girls younger than 16 since June 2003.
He apparently stopped these activities only after the television programme, Special Assignment, exposed him in September 2005.
Braun and his wife had fled via Namibia to Germany and police suspected he wanted to sell the house.
Some were only 11 years old
Police have found eight girls who claimed they were paid to have sexual intercourse with Braun or were submitted to indecent assaults.
Some of the girls were only 11 years old when Braund sexually assaulted them for the first time. They all came from poor families and some of them were child prostitutes.
Downer said Braun regularly took the girls to his house over a period of two years, and that he had sexual intercourse with them or indecently assaulted them.
He also allegedly bribed policemen to avoid arrest after they had caught him in the act of sexually assaulting the girls in his car in public places.
Downer said South Africa was particularly vulnerable to rich foreigners who came here to abuse vulnerable young children for sexual satisfaction.
"The media describes this phenomenon as 'sex tourism'.
"As soon as the activities of these 'sex tourists' are exposed, they leave the country without much hassle and dodge the consequences of their wrongdoing, as was the case in this instance," he said.
Inspector Jan Coetzee, attached to the unit against child and family violence, said allegations of bribery of three policemen from Macasser were being investigated.
Two of the girls claimed that the policemen threatened to phone Braun's wife on several occasions. They also pretended that they wanted to arrest him and then he paid them.
All the girls were able to describe the house in great detail with its sea view.
Video recording and photographs
They apparently first had to have a bath before he sexually assaulted them.
He also made video recordings and took photographs of the girls.
Willie Hofmeyr, head of the asset forfeiture unit, said on Monday the State could attach property that was directly linked to a crime.
In the case of a civil attachment, it was not necessary for the accused to have been sentenced for criminal charges.
There were at least two rulings in similar cases in the Appeal Court.