Pretoria - Police have called on parents and guardians to keep a watchful eye over their children and to know who their children are chatting to over the phone and in cyber space.
“Parents have a responsibility to know as to what exactly do their children get up to when they log on,” said the National Commissioner of the Police, General Riah Phiyega, on Friday.
This call comes in the wake of the arrest of several suspects in connection with incidents of online sexual exploitation of children, which police say continues to rise.
This week alone police arrested two men aged 39 and 19 in two separate incidents in Boksburg and Pretoria for possession, dealing and distribution of child pornography.
In the first instance, the Boksburg suspect was nabbed at his workplace on Tuesday after it was found that he has allegedly been exploiting his girlfriend’s daughter by taking photos of her in sexual poses, then sharing them with people as far away as the United States.
The sad part was the mother was not aware what her daughter was going through.
The suspect appeared in the Boksburg North Magistrate’s Court today and his case was postponed to the 30th of this month for further investigation. He remains in custody.
In the second case, the 19 year-old Pretoria man was arrested on Thursday for child pornography.
He is allegedly connected to the four suspects who were arrested early last month in Hercules, Pretoria.
He has already appeared in the Pretoria Central Magistrate’s Court and his case has also been postponed to 30 October 2015.
“For a start, we are happy that this team is giving this silent yet dangerous crime, all the attention it deserves and that suspects are being arrested every other day,” said General Phiyega. - SAnews.gov.za
