Convicted paedophile Bruce Ehrlich is a free man.
After four months in jail on multiple charges of rape, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, sexual grooming and kidnapping, the East London magistrate’s court on Thursday dropped all charges against him.
No explanation was given in court as to why the charges had been dropped.
Attempts to get hold of Ehrlich for comment were unsuccessful at the time of writing.
During his bail application in April, Ehrlich vehemently denied the charges against him and maintained he had no knowledge of the crimes he had been implicated in.
Two men now aged 20, who had lived with Ehrlich since 2013, opened cases against him. After his bail was denied in May, he had a drawn-out battle with the state to have this decision reviewed.
During an appearance in front of magistrate Rochelle Sam, Ehrlich said his legal rights had been violated by the police and state prosecution.
He said he wanted to be “rescued” by having the charges against him withdrawn as there was no case. Sam had told him to address his complaints to the head of prosecutions.
Last Wednesday, he made yet another attempt to fight for his freedom when he made a brief appearance in front of magistrate Linda Magaxeni to apply for bail on new facts.
When the state said they were not ready to proceed with his application, he accused them of blocking his attempts to appeal for his freedom.
Ehrlich’s convictions for similar offences date back to the early 1990s.
In 1991, after pleading guilty to six counts of sexual offences against minor boys in Knysna, his jail sentence was suspended on condition he did not make contact with children under the age of 18.
He ignored this condition and, after being seen in the company of minor boys, was forced to serve his two-year jail sentence.
In 2003, the East London regional court sentenced Ehrlich to 15 years imprisonment after convicting him of 14 counts of indecent assault of minor boys.
Before his sentencing, Ehrlich made three bail applications which were all denied because he had failed to abide by the conditions.
He was released on parole in 2012 and re-arrested in 2016 for breaking his parole conditions and spent 14 months in prison. He was released in 2017.
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