Convicted South African child rapist and sex trafficker Gerhard Ackerman has been sentenced to 12 life sentences for offenses related to the sex abuse ring he ran in Johannesburg, according to the local media.
On Monday, Ackerman appeared in the Gauteng High Court where Judge Mohamed Ismail sentenced him for the 740 charges that he had been found guilty of.
Ismail said Ackerman was a "plainly evil man" who lured children and opened them up to abuse from other men for his own benefit, according to the statement cited by media.
Ackerman's list of charges includes rape, attempted murder, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, and possession of child porn (a whopping 639 counts), as well as grooming and other atrocities.
Due to his crimes, he has been likened to Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier who was convinced of child trafficking and procuring a child for prostitution.
Paul Kennedy, Ackerman’s suspected accomplice, who worked as an advocate and acting judge, was accused of assisting Ackerman in operating the child sex abuse ring and transmitting HIV to some victims sent to him. Kennedy committed suicide in February 2022 before the trial began, media reported.