The case against a Midrand, Johannesburg couple, Daren Wilken and Tiona Moodley, accused of producing and distributing child sexual abuse material, has been postponed to October 22 for a bail appeal.
This after the pair appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, where they were remanded in custody pending the resolution of bail issues and the serving of the indictment.
Lengthy indictment
Prosecutor Elize le Roux informed the court that the investigation is complete. The state is now preparing a lengthy indictment due to the severity and number of charges.
“The state is busy preparing the indictment. And I should inform the court that the indictment is quite a lengthy one. That is due to the severity of the charges and the amount of the charges that the accused will be facing in the high court,” Le Roux stated.
“It would be nonsensical for us to serve the accused and transfer them prior to bail issues being dealt with,” she added.
The accused face multiple charges, including manufacturing and distributing child sexual abuse material (previously known as child pornography). Also possession of drugs, and money laundering.
The case will proceed to the high court once the indictment is finalised.
Miranda Jordan, a founding director at Women + Men Against Child Abuse, expressed shock at the case. She described the case as deeply disturbing and called for harsh penalties.
19 million child abuse images
“We are here with a case that has approximately 19 million images of child sexual abuse. That is basically 19 million scenes of children who are raped and abused by people [adults] they trust,” Jordan said.
“The fact that we have two monsters in here, both Moodley and Wilken, I can only say that they must never see the light of day. Because they’ve scarred those children for life.”
Jordan highlighted the growing prevalence of child sexual abuse crimes. She emphasised the need to identify the consumers of such material.
“Very sadly it is growing, and one of the biggest problems is that we don’t know the market. Who are the people who are buying this material? Who are these people who are allowing for the damage of a child for an image that will give themselves gratification? We want to know their gender, age, and demographic,” she said.
The postponement allows the state to finalise the indictment while addressing the bail appeal.
