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Dane accused of mutilating women in South Africa faces jail

A Danish man accused of mutilating women in South Africa and storing their genitals in his freezer has been convicted of dozens of charges.

Published: 7 November 2017 16:12 CET

Dane accused of mutilating women in South Africa faces jail

Frederiksen on trial in Bloemfontain in 2015. Photo: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Scanpix

Peter Frederiksen was found guilty of 36 offences in the Free State High Court on Monday including producing child pornography, raping a minor and conspiracy to murder, local media reported.

Frederiksen, a gun shop owner in his 60s, pleaded not guilty to all charges. He will be sentenced at a later hearing.

Twenty charges related to the removal of human tissue were dropped as the court found that the law did not clearly specify what penalties should apply for the alleged crimes.

Police discovered more than 10 pieces of frozen female genitalia at Frederiksen's Bloemfontein townhouse in September 2015.

His wife, 28-year-old Anna Matseliso Molise, was set to be the state's key witness but she was gunned down in October 2015 outside her house in Maseru, capital of neighbouring Lesotho.

South Africa has legislation prohibiting female circumcision, although it is not a common practise in the country.

READ ALSO: Danish female mutilation suspect denied bail

'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

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