Kimberley - A 23-year-old Kimberley man, convicted of 45 sexual offences involving children as young as three years old, remained emotionless and stared blankly ahead in the Northern Cape High Court on Wednesday as he was sentenced to an effective 24 years imprisonment.

Rudolph Coetzee, the Kimberley photographer who was arrested at his home/photography studio in Hillcrest last year, previously pleaded guilty to five rape charges, 22 charges of using children in the production of child pornography, 16 charges of sexual assault and two charges of attempted rape.

The offences were committed in Kimberley over a period of four years, from 2010 to 2014, and involved local boys and girls aged between three and 12 years.

His arrest came after one of his victims spoke out and during a raid the police found hundreds of photographs of children depicted in naked positions as well as engaged in sexual acts with Coetzee.

Photos of these incidents were taken by Coetzee.

While only boys were involved in Coetzee’s manufacturing of child pornography, 126 pictures were taken of the exposed private partsof the children. Photos taken on the same day were counted by the State as one charge. In some instances two or more boys were photographed naked together. These offences come with a minimum sentence of ten years imprisonment.

Four boys were involved in the sexual assault charges, while one 10-year-old boy was involved in the two attempted rape charges.

A victim impact report by a social worker with a degree in forensic assessment, indicated that the victims displayed various adverse effects and symptoms following the sexual abuse they suffered. These included feelings of helplessness, anger, betrayal, irritability, shame, aggressiveness, depression as well as a lack of concentration, drug abuse, rebellion and suicidal tendencies, among various others.

A pre-sentencing report, compiled by a clinical psychologist, Major Hayden Knibbs, which aimed to classify the behaviour of Coetzee and comment on the risk factors and rehabilitation prospects, found that Coetzee fitted the diagnostic criteria of paedophilic disorder.

Knibbs found that this diagnosis indicated a sexual desire towards children, while having a poor diagnosis in treatment. He further indicated that Coetzee posed a high risk to children in society of a similar age of the victims.

During Wednesday’s sentencing, Northern Cape High Court Judge President Frans Kgomo said that the victim impact report showed that Coetzee had “destroyed the lives of at least seven children”, who now performed poorly at school, were being mocked by other children, abused drugs and alcohol, suffered from insomnia, while one even undressed himself in public and urinated on strangers. He added that the mental and emotional scars ran deep and would endure.

However, Kgomo added that he wished for the “window of hope to be left open ever so slightly” for the 23-year-old offender, as he had co-operated with police from the time he was caught, pleaded guilty and spared the “hapless and vulnerable” complainants secondary or collateral trauma that they would have undergone in the witness box and was able to exercise restraint when the victims were in anguish.

Kgomo added that these factors considered with the mitigating factors presented by Coetzee’s legal representative, Advocate Van Zyl Nel, combined to bring about some equilibrium to sufficiently find that life imprisonment would be “unjust in that it would be disproportionate to the crime, the criminal and the needs of society, so that an injustice would be done by imposing such sentence”.

Kgomo added that the State was “unduly pedantic” in holding that no mitigating factors existed and called for life imprisonment.

Kgomo then imposed a sentence of 24 years imprisonment for each of the five rape counts, 10 years for the combined manufacturing of child pornography counts, 10 years for the combined sexual assault charges and eight years for the combined attempted rape charges. However, he ordered that all the sentences run concurrently so that the accused will effectively serve 24 years imprisonment.

He also ordered that Coetzee’s name be recorded in the National Register for Sex Offenders.

Coetzee remained emotionless and only stared blankly ahead during the handing down of the sentence. His mother, who was in the gallery to support him, also showed little emotion.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokeswoman, Mashudu Malabi, said on Wednesday that while there might still be similar undetected or unreported cases, South Africa and its children would be a safer place without Coetzee.