A young mother convicted of creating and distributing child porn had her slate wiped clean by the Bloemfontein High Court.
On Monday , the 18-year-old successfully had her criminal conviction set aside following a two-year battle.
She was charged after her father went to the police with her cellphone. He had confiscated the phone in February 2013 as punishment after the then 16-year-old teen, who at the time lived with her father and stepmother on their Free State tomato farm, walked out of a church service.
On the phone, he found explicit photographs, messages and a video she had sent to an older man and two teenage boys in her school.
Pierre Booysen, 44, the man to whom she had sent the pornographic selfies, was convicted of child sexual grooming and received a three-year suspended sentence.
The girl pleaded guilty in the regional court in Welkom, Free State, in exchange for a three-year suspended sentence, to which her father, now 71 years old, agreed.
According to a social worker's report submitted to the regional court, the teenager grew up with her black grandmother in Mpumalanga and had to fend for herself from an early age. Her mother drank heavily.
In 2013 her grandmother sent her to live with her father, a white farmer in the Free State whom she had last seen when she was a baby.
The Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria intervened when they heard of the girl's case and set in motion the appeal where the centre asked the court to set aside the conviction and sentence.
In court documents, the Centre argued that the girl was prejudiced because she was not dealt with according to the Child Justice Act, she was not properly advised by her legal representatives, both her father and the prosecutor influenced her into pleading guilty and she did not understand the implications.
On Monday, Professor Ann Skelton of the Centre for Child Law, acting on behalf of the girl, argued that the court should provide a judgment that would set a precedent “to give guidance” on dealing with cases like these.
But Judge Shamin Ebrahim said that because the state did not oppose the appeal, the role of the court had become “redundant”.
National Prosecuting Authority Free State spokesman Phaladi Shuping said: "The initial decision of the NPA was to oppose the appeal … However, after receiving the [Centre for Child Law's] heads of argument, we realised that we won't be successful in opposing the application."
Ebrahim said she would grant the relief but there was no need for a judgment.
The Centre's Carina du Toit called this “an extreme injustice”.
Du Toit said: “The court gave no clarity on how to deal with children sexting... [We] needed reasons from the court to make it clear how to deal with other children in similar situations.”
Louw Schoeman, a Bloemfontein magistrate who attended the case hoping that a precedent would be set, said: “This morning was a disappointment. On face value, what has happened here does not serve the best interest of the child.”
Du Toit said: “Ironically, even though we won, it is a failure of justice. They [the prosecutor, the Welkom magistrate who convicted the girl and the girl's lawyers] get away with being bad at their jobs.”
The teenager has since given birth to a baby boy and has moved back to Mpumalanga while her father has moved to the Eastern Cape.
Clean slate for sexting teen
A young mother convicted of creating and distributing child porn had her slate wiped clean by the Bloemfontein High Court.
On Monday , the 18-year-old successfully had her criminal conviction set aside following a two-year battle.
She was charged after her father went to the police with her cellphone. He had confiscated the phone in February 2013 as punishment after the then 16-year-old teen, who at the time lived with her father and stepmother on their Free State tomato farm, walked out of a church service.
On the phone, he found explicit photographs, messages and a video she had sent to an older man and two teenage boys in her school.
Pierre Booysen, 44, the man to whom she had sent the pornographic selfies, was convicted of child sexual grooming and received a three-year suspended sentence.
The girl pleaded guilty in the regional court in Welkom, Free State, in exchange for a three-year suspended sentence, to which her father, now 71 years old, agreed.
According to a social worker's report submitted to the regional court, the teenager grew up with her black grandmother in Mpumalanga and had to fend for herself from an early age. Her mother drank heavily.
In 2013 her grandmother sent her to live with her father, a white farmer in the Free State whom she had last seen when she was a baby.
The Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria intervened when they heard of the girl's case and set in motion the appeal where the centre asked the court to set aside the conviction and sentence.
In court documents, the Centre argued that the girl was prejudiced because she was not dealt with according to the Child Justice Act, she was not properly advised by her legal representatives, both her father and the prosecutor influenced her into pleading guilty and she did not understand the implications.
On Monday, Professor Ann Skelton of the Centre for Child Law, acting on behalf of the girl, argued that the court should provide a judgment that would set a precedent “to give guidance” on dealing with cases like these.
But Judge Shamin Ebrahim said that because the state did not oppose the appeal, the role of the court had become “redundant”.
National Prosecuting Authority Free State spokesman Phaladi Shuping said: "The initial decision of the NPA was to oppose the appeal … However, after receiving the [Centre for Child Law's] heads of argument, we realised that we won't be successful in opposing the application."
Ebrahim said she would grant the relief but there was no need for a judgment.
The Centre's Carina du Toit called this “an extreme injustice”.
Du Toit said: “The court gave no clarity on how to deal with children sexting... [We] needed reasons from the court to make it clear how to deal with other children in similar situations.”
Louw Schoeman, a Bloemfontein magistrate who attended the case hoping that a precedent would be set, said: “This morning was a disappointment. On face value, what has happened here does not serve the best interest of the child.”
Du Toit said: “Ironically, even though we won, it is a failure of justice. They [the prosecutor, the Welkom magistrate who convicted the girl and the girl's lawyers] get away with being bad at their jobs.”
The teenager has since given birth to a baby boy and has moved back to Mpumalanga while her father has moved to the Eastern Cape.
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