A trail of graphic sexual pictures and messages sent to an 11-year-old boy led police to a man who had allegedly been grooming the boy for two months.

The man‚ 42‚ was arrested last month following an investigation after the boy’s parents complained to the police about pictures and messages he allegedly sent the boy between July and September 2013.

The Randburg Magistrate’s Court‚ where the man stands accused of possession of child pornography‚ on Wednesday postponed the case to September.

The boy’s stepmother allegedly found out about the social media correspondence between the accused and the boy when she looked at a message sent to the boy’s cellphone. The message contained a graphic sexual picture and was from a number the boy had saved under the man’s name.

A further search revealed that the boy had been talking to the man for two months and had received many pictures of a sexual nature from him.

The boy allegedly said the man had invited him to chat on social networking applications such as BlackBerry Messenger‚ WeChat and WhatsApp. He allegedly said the man had told him he was 20 years old and initially talked to him about everyday things before he started to send naked pictures of himself.

The accused‚ a self-employed father of two‚ had also allegedly arranged to meet up with the boy at a mall in the east of Johannesburg‚ but the meeting never took place.

Last year during a search-and-seizure operation at the man’s house‚ he allegedly admitted to a warrant officer that he was addicted to child pornography.

He is currently out on R10‚000 bail and is also‚ according to documents this reporter has seen‚ undergoing treatment for addiction to pornography‚ and attends Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings.