On Wednesday, the trial of the boss of Model South Africa PTY (Ltd), Dawie de Villiers, began and his list of offences is a long one. So far, two people have testified and here’s what we know at this point in time:
- He is facing a total of 38 charges, including rape, exposing two children to pornography, accessing and possession of child pornography, sexual grooming, crimen injuria and fraud between 2011 and 2013.
- 46 witnesses, including the young children he allegedly exposed pornography to, alleged sexual assault, rape and fraud victims, as well as experts and investigators are set to testify.
- Rape and sexual assault victims will testify on camera. Only one alleged sexual assault victim will testify in the open court as the victim has come forth publicly about her experience.
- Dawie is represented by Jacque Pienaar.
- The first person to testify was a primary school pupil who said he often saw naked girls at Dawie’s home when he visited there a few years ago. He was aged between six and seven at the time. When asked if he knew what Dawie did, the boy responded
His job is to take pictures of girls. I saw girls in very small bikinis, some were naked. I could remember seeing one girl’s bum and the side of her breast.
- In 2009, Dawie’s ex-wife discovered photos he had taken in their marital bedroom. She then forwarded the photographs to the woman after discovering her name to figure out what was going on. The woman responded, saying that Dawie had forced her into the act. She was 21 at the time. Dawie’s defence insisted that Dawie was not the author of the original emails.
Most incidents allegedly occurred in Kempton Park, Johannesburg and today the trial will continue.
