Self-confessed WhatsApp sex-pest Nicolaas van der Merwe, who pleaded guilty to 13 counts of contravening the Sexual Offences Act, was sentenced to six years imprisonment on Wednesday.
In October, the 36-year-old Pinelands resident admitted to searching for the contact details of women estate agents on Property24 and then video-calling them while lying naked on his bed.
In his guilty plea, Van der Merwe said when the women answered his WhatsApp video calls he would show them how he was masturbating.
Van der Merwe was arrested in September after investigations by the Gauteng provincial police’s serial and electronic crime investigation unit tracked him to Gqeberha.
The three-month investigation began when Potchefstroom private investigator Johan Botes contacted the police in connection with complaints received by at least 25 women.
The victims were aged between 20 and 63.
According to Van der Merwe, he performed the acts for his own sexual gratification.
Van der Merwe was convicted on November 3 in the city’s regional court on 13 counts of exposing an adult to witnessing self-masturbation between September 2020 and July 2021.
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