'Barbie' to hear her fate on sex charges soon
8 February 2010, 07:55
By Zelda Venter
High Court Reporter
While Dirk Prinsloo started to serve his 13-year jail sentence in Belarus last week for a failed bank robbery there, his blonde former girlfriend Cezanne Visser - better known as "Advocate Barbie" - is due to hear her fate this week.
Sentencing procedures, expected to last for the entire week, were due to start on Monday, with the defence who will call at least three experts to testify in mitigation of sentence. It is not known whether the State will call any witnesses to justify why Visser should receive a harsh sentence.
Visser's advocate Johann Engelbrecht SC is endeavouring to obtain the record of Prinsloo's recent trial in Belarus, as the tales of the women in that country regarding the former advocate who had fathered children with two of them, in many instances sounded familiar to that of Visser.
Although they were never involved in indecent acts with children or other women, some of the other women in Prinsloo's life also had tattoos bearing his face and name on their bodies. They, too, described their life of hell with Prinsloo and the sadistic sex they were subjected to.
Prinsloo left Visser, the woman who was once the love of his life, to face an array of sex charges on her own when he fled the country in 2006. This week is expected to mark the end of a long court battle for Visser, who was arrested with Prinsloo at the end of 2002.
She and Prinsloo pleaded not guilty to 15 mostly sex-related charges when their trial started in 2005. Prinsloo made a dash for freedom a year later.
When the former trial judge, Essop Patel, died in 2007, Visser again pleaded not guilty, this time before Acting Judge Chris Eksteen.
Although she did not dispute much of what the female victims had testified about what she and Prinsloo did to them, Visser this time around based her defence on the abused woman's syndrome. She claimed she was so totally under the evil spell of Prinsloo that she hardly had a will of her own left.
Her evidence was marked by shocking and bizarre details of weird and sadistic sex rituals - similar to those of his Russian mistresses. This involved the use of vegetables in sex acts and even involved a dog. While she described Prinsloo as a monster, her advocate, Engelbrecht described him as being a pig.
But Judge Eksteen in October last year convicted Visser on 11 sex related charges, including the indecent assault of two orphaned girls - aged 11 and 14 at the time and soliciting a 15-year-old to commit sexual acts.
He found that Visser acted with a will of her own and tried to hide behind Prinsloo as justification for what she had done. He at the time commented that he wondered what Prinsloo would have to say about it.
Visser has, meanwhile, evolved from being an emaciated, tattooed blonde with inflated breasts, to a sophisticated woman with a fuller body, but with her breasts back to their natural size. She is also in the process of removing the tattoos.
Her mother, Susan Lemmer, said following Prinsloo's sentence last week, that although she believed he should have received a harsher punishment, she was glad that everyone can see that her child told the truth in court regarding his deviant conduct. She added that this was a very difficult time for the family, especially for Visser.
Meanwhile, members of the Child Abuse Action Group are expected to be in court this week to monitor sentencing procedures.
High Court Reporter
While Dirk Prinsloo started to serve his 13-year jail sentence in Belarus last week for a failed bank robbery there, his blonde former girlfriend Cezanne Visser - better known as "Advocate Barbie" - is due to hear her fate this week.
Sentencing procedures, expected to last for the entire week, were due to start on Monday, with the defence who will call at least three experts to testify in mitigation of sentence. It is not known whether the State will call any witnesses to justify why Visser should receive a harsh sentence.
Visser's advocate Johann Engelbrecht SC is endeavouring to obtain the record of Prinsloo's recent trial in Belarus, as the tales of the women in that country regarding the former advocate who had fathered children with two of them, in many instances sounded familiar to that of Visser.
Although they were never involved in indecent acts with children or other women, some of the other women in Prinsloo's life also had tattoos bearing his face and name on their bodies. They, too, described their life of hell with Prinsloo and the sadistic sex they were subjected to.
Prinsloo left Visser, the woman who was once the love of his life, to face an array of sex charges on her own when he fled the country in 2006. This week is expected to mark the end of a long court battle for Visser, who was arrested with Prinsloo at the end of 2002.
She and Prinsloo pleaded not guilty to 15 mostly sex-related charges when their trial started in 2005. Prinsloo made a dash for freedom a year later.
When the former trial judge, Essop Patel, died in 2007, Visser again pleaded not guilty, this time before Acting Judge Chris Eksteen.
Although she did not dispute much of what the female victims had testified about what she and Prinsloo did to them, Visser this time around based her defence on the abused woman's syndrome. She claimed she was so totally under the evil spell of Prinsloo that she hardly had a will of her own left.
Her evidence was marked by shocking and bizarre details of weird and sadistic sex rituals - similar to those of his Russian mistresses. This involved the use of vegetables in sex acts and even involved a dog. While she described Prinsloo as a monster, her advocate, Engelbrecht described him as being a pig.
But Judge Eksteen in October last year convicted Visser on 11 sex related charges, including the indecent assault of two orphaned girls - aged 11 and 14 at the time and soliciting a 15-year-old to commit sexual acts.
He found that Visser acted with a will of her own and tried to hide behind Prinsloo as justification for what she had done. He at the time commented that he wondered what Prinsloo would have to say about it.
Visser has, meanwhile, evolved from being an emaciated, tattooed blonde with inflated breasts, to a sophisticated woman with a fuller body, but with her breasts back to their natural size. She is also in the process of removing the tattoos.
Her mother, Susan Lemmer, said following Prinsloo's sentence last week, that although she believed he should have received a harsher punishment, she was glad that everyone can see that her child told the truth in court regarding his deviant conduct. She added that this was a very difficult time for the family, especially for Visser.
Meanwhile, members of the Child Abuse Action Group are expected to be in court this week to monitor sentencing procedures.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Pretoria News on February 08, 2010
Durban
