A trial date has been set for a 55-year-old man and his 20-year-old stepson who allegedly used their own family to service their sexual desires while making money from their crimes.
The two, of Paradise Beach, made a brief appearance in the Gqeberha high court on Friday, charged with multiple sex-related crimes.
The complainants in the case are the man’s teenage daughter, her younger brother and sister and two mentally challenged relatives.
The accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the complainants, face charges including rape, sexual assault, creating, possessing and distributing child pornography, human trafficking, earning a living from the sexual exploitation of minors, grooming, exposing children and people with mental disabilities to pornography and failing to report the sexual assault of a minor.
The older man faces an additional charge of bestiality arising from an incident involving the family dog.
The state indicated on Friday that investigations were complete and a trial date was accordingly set down for February 26.
Both men, who remain in custody, are represented by Legal Aid SA.
They have not yet been asked to plead.
In June, the mother of the 20-year-old accused, as well as of his teenage half-sister and her two minor siblings, pleaded guilty in the Humansdorp regional court to charges of failure to report the sexual assault of a minor and defeating the ends of justice.
She received a three-year suspended sentence.
In a plea agreement, the 40-year-old woman admitted she knew her eldest son — from a previous relationship — had allegedly raped his half-sister and molested her two younger children.
She further admitted to assisting her long-term partner (the older accused) by alerting him that he was being investigated by police before his arrest in September 2022.
Various electronic devices, allegedly containing thousands of images and recordings of child pornography and related material, were seized during the police investigation.
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.