A Cape Town man has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars after he blackmailed a young girl to send him naked pictures of herself.
The court heard that Ashley Perrins, 38, had even sent friend requests to the child’s friends by using her photograph and pretending to be her.
Perrins was sentenced at the Goodwood Regional Court last week and convicted on 1 208 charges, including sexual grooming and possession of child pornography.
According to State prosecutor Yolanda Pretorius, Perrins had requested the girl to be his friend via Facebook in 2020.
The NPA said they chatted daily on Facebook Messenger and later via WhatsApp.
“He lied to her pretending to be a 14 years old and she regarded him as a friend and a potential love interest. At first he asked her for her picture, and she complied.”
Perrins initially asked for naked pictures but later demanded videos.
“He instructed her what to do in the videos. At first, she refused, and he threatened her, by saying that if she refused to send the videos, he would expose the naked pictures she sent him on social media for everyone to see,” said Pretorius.
Perrins later told her that he was 38 years old.
“This information scared her, and she blocked him on Facebook and WhatsApp,” Pretorius said. But using a different number, Perrins again threatened her.
“She gave in to his threats and unblocked him.”
The next year, the girl discovered that her friends received Facebook requests from her, but it was from fake accounts with her profile picture.
Perrins also asked these meisies to send him naked images of themselves.
The NPA said that in 2021, Perrins demanded to meet the girl and sent an Uber to fetch her from her home.
At the shopping mall, he attempted to kiss her, but she refused.
Pretorius said the alarm was raised when the girl’s father saw one of the videos on Facebook and that was when she opened up about what had happened.
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