Gerhard Ackerman Convicted of Child Sex Trafficking

Convicted sex trafficker and child rapist Gerhard Ackerman has been handed 12 life sentences for crimes related to the sex abuse ring he ran in Johannesburg.

Ackerman appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday, where Judge Mohamed Ismail sentenced him for the more than 700 charges, he had been found guilty of.

The life sentences were imposed for each of the rape and human trafficking counts, including the rape of minors. 

Ismail said Ackerman was a “plainly evil man” who lured children and opened them up to abuse from other men for his own benefit.

Ackerman was found guilty of:

• Human trafficking
• Sexual exploitation of minors
• Hundreds of counts of possession of child pornography
• Creating child pornography
• Sexual grooming of minors
• Exposing himself to children
• Sex abuse ring
• Most of the crimes Ackerman committed related to his possession of child porn and the child sex abuse ring he masterminded with the help of well-known advocate and acting judge Paul Kennedy. Kennedy was arrested and charged alongside Ackerman. Kennedy committed suicide before the trial started.

We at Hope to Heal Foundation encourage Justice to further investigate this heinous crime committed to minor victims, and to arrest and convict all perpetrators on Ackerman’s logbook.