The police’s Serial and Electronic Crimes Investigation (SECI) section of the Family violence, Child protection, and Sexual offences (FCS) Unit nabbed the 26-year-old man for possession of child pornography and failing to report knowledge of the commission of a sexual offence with children.
The pastor, employed by a church in Rondebosch, was reported by the parents of a 14-year-old boy on 31 August, police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.
FCS officers, the Hawks, as well as USA’s homeland security department investigated the case before they arrested the suspect on 5 September at the church premises.
During his arrest, police seized several electronic items, including cellphones, a laptop, a tablet, and memory cards, which would be sent for analysis, Naidoo said.
“The suspect allegedly hacked into his victims’ social media accounts and exchanged naked photos with some of the boys in his church under the pretext that he was a girl. When the boys, aged between 14 and 17, decided to stop, he would then threaten them with online exposure of their pictures.
“Most of the boys would then go to him, as the man of the cloth, to seek advice on how to handle the person bullying them online. He would then advise them to continue doing what that individual wanted, which constitutes, on his part, failing to report knowledge of the commission of a sexual offence with children,” Naidoo said.
It was suspected that as many as 60 children may have fallen victim to him, Naidoo added.