WhatsApp sex pest Nicolaas van der Merwe, who used the app to indecently expose himself to women across the country, pleaded guilty on Friday to 13 counts of contravening the Sexual Offences Act.
The 36-year-old Pinelands resident was arrested last week after investigations by the Gauteng provincial police serial and electronic crime investigation unit, which tracked Van Der Merwe to Gqeberha.
The three-month investigation began when Potchefstroom-based private investigator Johan Botes contacted the police in connection with complaints received from at least 25 women who had fallen victim to Van Der Merwe’s inappropriate sexual antics.
In his guilty plea read out in the Gqeberha regional court on Friday, Van Der Merwe admitted he would find the numbers of women estate agents on the Property24 website and call his unwitting victims, who were aged between 20 and 63.
Van Der Merwe said he would lie on his bed naked and masturbate while WhatsApp video-calling his victims.
Once they answered the call, Van Der Merwe said he would then show them his genitals while masturbating.
“All my actions were wrong and unlawful.
“I did not have the right to do so and I am very remorseful for what I did,” Van Der Merwe said.
He said he had done so for his own sexual gratification.
Van Der Merwe sat quietly with his head bowed and eyes fixed to the ground while his plea was read into the court record.
After submitting his plea, Van Der Merwe was convicted on 13 counts of exposing an adult to witness self-masturbation between September 2020 and July this year.
Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu previously said Van Der Merwe had been victimising the women since 2016.
According to Botes, Van Der Merwe used un-Rica’ed SIM cards or Wi-Fi when making the calls, which made it extremely difficult to locate him.
However, through his investigations Botes was able to identify him after one of his alleged victims recognised him as a former classmate.
Botes, who has been working on the matter pro bono, told the Weekend Post’s sister publication The Herald that on Monday alone, he had been contacted by at least three other women with the same allegations.
He said the man’s modus operandi would be the same in each case — he would contact his alleged victims posing as a prospective client.
He would initially show them his face while talking to them and then allegedly move the cellphone down to focus on his genital area while masturbating and uttering profanities.
Three of his victims, who spoke to The Herald on condition of anonymity, said they had felt violated after the calls.
The matter was postponed to November 3 to allow the state time to determine if Van Der Merwe had any past or pending cases against him and for a correctional services report to be compiled.
He will remain in custody until his next court appearance.
HeraldLIVE
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