The 10-year jail sentence for Grahamstown resident Anthony Evans for the possession, manufacture and distribution of child pornography is an insult to children, say child welfare workers.
The 10-year jail sentence for Grahamstown resident Anthony Evans for the possession, manufacture and distribution of child pornography is an insult to children, say child welfare workers.
"Ten years is nothing," Child Welfare South Africa's Grahamstown branch director Woinschet Bischoff told Grocott's Mail on Wednesday 3 June.
Bischoff was attending a children's safety awareness event organised by Child Welfare. International Child Protection Day is on 1 June.
Describing Evans's sentence as lenient, she said it should have been harsher.
Evans, 53, who pleaded guilty to all three charges was sentenced according to a plea and sentencing agreement.
Sentencing was by Judge Judith Robertson at the Eastern Cape High Court on Friday 29 May.
The owner of a Grahamstown guesthouse was arrested at his home on Wednesday 11 March in a joint raid by local police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
According to documents he was the IT mastermind behind an international porn ring, wanted by the FBI for extradition to the United States.
Most of the 600 girls who were abused were from there, according to police.
"This lenient sentence goes against what social workers are trying to achieve," Bischoff said.
"These activities were carried out internationally over the internet," Bischoff said. "They have not measured how many children it has affected. We can't imagine the damage this could have done not just here, but all over the world."
The child protection awareness event at the Albany Road Recreation Hall featured music, awareness workshops and a play performed by social workers.
