Control

When the child expresses unwillingness to return sexual favours, the perpetrators start making threats. The perpetrators gain control over the child in the following ways:

  • encouraging the child to truant from school and fear reprisals from parents and school authorities;
  • showing the child weapons in the car or on the person and keeping the child under constant threat;
  • encouraging addiction to cigarettes, alcohol and drugs and making the child dependent on him to supply these;
  • photographing the child performing sexual activities and threatening to publicise the images;
  • involving the child in criminal activities and threatening the child with police action;
  • using physical violence and threats against the child and the child’s family.
 

Understanding Sexual Exploitation

A child is a person under the age of 18. Typically, perpetrators target children aged between 11 and 15.

'When I look back what surprises me is the amount of time it took for the perpetrators to get to her (the daughter). She met them (pimps) in January when she went to watch movies at the shopping mall and in a space of 16 weeks they groomed, controlled and exploited her.'

Parent

'Jessica kept coming home with presents, like perfume, jewellery and mobile phones. She wouldn’t tell me where she got them.'

Parent

'She was coming in with bruises and love bites all over her too.'

Parent

'Within three months, I literally didn’t know her anymore. We’d had a really good relationship but she barely spoke to me now.'

Parent