South Africa More victims come forward in Gauteng child sex ring case allegedly involving advocate Paul Kennedy

The accused is facing more than 700 counts, including trafficking, rape, sexual assault and grooming of a minor.

More minor victims have come forward in the alleged child sex ring case in which senior advocate and acting judge, Paul Kennedy, was an accused.

Kennedy has since died by suicide - but his co-accused, who cannot be named until he has pleaded to the charges, recently appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

The State informed the court that it needed another postponement as three more victims had come forward.

News24 understands that three victims came forward - the youngest was 14 when the crimes were allegedly committed.

It is further understood that the accused will now be facing more charges of rape.

The accused was initially charged, alongside Kennedy, in a case involving more than 700 counts of child pornography, sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual grooming of a minor, and rape.

Since charges against Kennedy were withdrawn, following his death by suicide in February, the State identified more criminal cases against the accused.

The court heard the State was still centralising the other cases faced by the accused in other parts of the country.

One case, which has been centralised to the child sex ring matter, is a matter of public indecency; the accused allegedly exposed himself to minors at a holiday resort in Da Gamaskop in the Western Cape.

There is a similar case in Scottburgh, KwaZulu-Natal, which still needs to be centralised.

News24 previously reported that the accused had also been charged with public indecency in a separate case after allegedly exposing himself to an 11-year-old boy in a bathroom at a swimming school in Sandton in July 2018.

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/more-minor-victims-come-forward-in-gauteng-child-sex-ring-case-20220620