An unnamed South African youth pastor from the Cape Town suburb of Rondebosch has been arrested for allegedly duping at least 50 teenage boys into sending him explicit photographs of themselves.

According to this report, the 27-year-old from the Common Ground Church publicly condemned pornography. In a 2016 post on his Facebook page, he said:

Porn doesn’t really show what sex is, it shows what selfish pleasure is. Porn shows conflicting messages about consent. Today’s porn sells the idea that your pleasure is more important than anyone else’s pain or abuse.

It teaches viewers to minimise the sexual trauma of others because in porn, ‘no’ eventually turns into ‘yes.’ It’s time we wake up to the toxic ideas that porn promotes.

The father of a 16-year-old who had belonged to the suspect’s youth group said:

He used to often have a go at my son saying, ‘Tell me, are you using porn? Do you use porn on social media? Tell me if you are doing that.’

Police said the suspect’s modus operandi allegedly involved hacking into his teenage congregants’ social media accounts and, using the identity of a teenage girl, coaxing boys between the ages of 14 and 17 to share naked photos of themselves.

When the boys wanted to stop sharing photos the suspect’s girl alias would threaten them with online exposure.

Said police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo:

Most of the boys would then go to the suspect, as a man of the cloth, to seek advice on how to handle the person bullying them online.

He would then advise them to continue sharing photos which constitutes, on his part, failing to report knowledge of the commission of a sexual offence with children.

The pastor is also accused of targeting pupils at a number of leading Cape Town boys’ schools. He presented himself as a sports photographer and a church youth worker.



Senior pastor Ryan TerMorshuizen, above, said the man was investigated two years ago when he sent a WhatsApp message to a teenager who had injured his genital area‚ requesting a photo.

We immediately had him assessed by two therapists – one of whom we have on retainer – and we also asked for a report from an external forensic clinical psychologist.

All had given the youth leader a clean bill of health.

TerMorshuizen said the church decided to open up about the charges so that they wouldn’t be accused of a cover up, saying they were assisting fully with investigations and had brought charges against the youth pastor themselves.

He is quoted here as saying:

These are the kinds of things that nightmares are made of for a church. As you can imagine, we are absolutely devastated as a congregation. A number of families who’ve had this young man in their home say it felt like a divorce when someone cheats and you just didn’t see it coming.

The suspect appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Friday. He was charged with possession of child pornography and failing to report knowledge of the commission of a sexual offence with children. He was released on R1,000 (£57.00) bail.

Hat tip: Ate Berga