South Australian paedophile appeals extradition order from South Africa

A CONVICTED South Australian sex offender who fled the country while on bail is appealing his extradition back to Adelaide to face trial.

Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, where the paedophile was being held over crimes against children in South Africa.

A CONVICTED South Australian paedophile is fighting his extradition to Australia, after a South African court agreed that he was eligible for parole.

Lawyers for the 75-year-old man, who cannot be legally identified in South Australia, filed paper work in the Western Cape High Court earlier this week in a bid to stop the extradition.

The man is facing numerous sex offences, including indecent assault and persistent sexual exploitation, towards children, both boys and girls, as young as 7. The offences are alleged to have occurred between June 1999 and January 2003, in South Australia.

He was not arrested and charged until 2011. While awaiting trial, he was granted bail to travel to South Africa on the agreement he would be back by November of that year.

He instead created a new life for himself and his wife in an affluent beach side suburb near Cape Town. Over the next three years, he sexually abused eight children, three boys and five girls, who attended the same church as him.

Attorney-General John Rau said SA had “strong” bail provisions which would be made even tougher by a proposed Bill before parliament targeting terrorism charges. “If SAPOL recommends further change in this area, the Government will consider it,” he said.

The man was sentenced to five years prison but only had to serve 10 months before he was eligible for parole. Australian authorities applied for his extradition in 2016.

Weeks before his release on parole the man was arrested in his cell by Interpol agents.

Since then he has been fighting extradition back to SA, claiming his health is too fragile to be transported back to his homeland. On October 4, a magistrate concluded the man was eligible for parole.

If the appeal is overturned, the man’s final chance rests with Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Michael Masutha.

Originally published as South Australian paedophile appeals extradition order from South Africa