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- More victims have come forward in an alleged child sex ring case against a 53-year-old man.
- The accused is facing more than 700 counts, including trafficking, rape, sexual assault and grooming of a minor.
- Advocate Paul Kennedy was a co-accused in the matter, but charges were withdrawn because of his death.
More minor victims have come forward in the alleged child sex ring case in which senior advocate and acting judge, Paul Kennedy, was an accused.
Kennedy has since died by suicide - but his co-accused, who cannot be named until he has pleaded to the charges, recently appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
The State informed the court that it needed another postponement as three more victims had come forward.
News24 understands that three victims came forward - the youngest was 14 when the crimes were allegedly committed.
It is further understood that the accused will now be facing more charges of rape.
The accused was initially charged, alongside Kennedy, in a case involving more than 700 counts of child pornography, sexual assault, human trafficking, sexual grooming of a minor, and rape.
Since charges against Kennedy were withdrawn, following his death by suicide in February, the State identified more criminal cases against the accused.
The court heard the State was still centralising the other cases faced by the accused in other parts of the country.
One case, which has been centralised to the child sex ring matter, is a matter of public indecency; the accused allegedly exposed himself to minors at a holiday resort in Da Gamaskop in the Western Cape.
There is a similar case in Scottburgh, KwaZulu-Natal, which still needs to be centralised.
News24 previously reported that the accused had also been charged with public indecency in a separate case after allegedly exposing himself to an 11-year-old boy in a bathroom at a swimming school in Sandton in July 2018.
READ | Advocate Paul Kennedy, accused of child sex trafficking and rape, has died
Police confirmed to News24 that a charge of unlawfully and intentionally exposing/displaying or causing the exposure/display of genital organs (public indecency) had been opened.
However, at the time, the case was temporarily struck off the roll as the victim's parents wanted the case withdrawn, because they did not want to subject their son to more trauma.
The case will be joined to the one currently before the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, the accused is also on trial for the alleged sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy in Sandton in August 2018.
The incident allegedly happened in a public bathroom at an upmarket country club in Johannesburg. The victim was at the country club to play a hockey match against another school.
