Roux this week pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and four counts of soliciting boys to perform sexual acts with him.

The start of Roux's trial before Judge Kato van Niekerk on Tuesday produced what must count as one of the more startlingly sordid plea explanations yet to have been given to a Namibian court in a case involving alleged paedophilia.

Roux - unmarried, 70 years old and in ill health - admitted that on a regular basis over some four years between 2000 and 2004 he paid boys in their early teens to have sex with him.

He also paid them to fondle his genitalia, and on April 6 last year, he paid five of them N$6 000 each in a failed attempt to persuade them to remain silent about the sexual acts that he had committed with them or had them commit with him, Roux informed the Judge in a written statement that his defence counsel, Louis du Pisani, read to the court on his behalf.

The pestering of street children and his own sexual urges were to blame for the start of all this, it is claimed in the statement.

Roux's trial is scheduled to continue behind closed doors today.

Yesterday and on Tuesday, State advocate Ruth Herunga, who refused to accept Roux's pleas on four of the charges, presented the testimony of five of the boys who are claimed to have been involved in the acts with the farmer to the court.

Judge Van Niekerk heard this evidence in camera, and is set to continue to do so today.

The guilty pleas that Herunga refused to accept were all pleas in which Roux admitted guilt to charges under the 1980 Combating of Immoral Practices Act.

He offered these guilty pleas to counts of having solicited three children under the age of sixteen, as well as one child under the age of fourteen, to commit a sexual act with him.

On those counts Roux had however been charged with main counts of rape under the Combating of Rape Act of 2000, and it is on these main charges, as well as another two counts of rape on which Roux pleaded not guilty, that Herunga set out to prove the prosecution's case.

That was after Judge Van Niekerk had already pronounced Roux as convicted, on the basis of his own pleas, on two other charges of rape and a count of attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice.

This is a case that started with his visits to Gobabis from the farm where he lives, Roux related in his statement: "I reside on a farm, which is 174 km from the closest town, Gobabis.

As a result, I go to town, being Gobabis only once every one to two months.

"During my visits to Gobabis the complainants, who were living on the streets, used to beg money from me whenever they saw me.

I gave them money from time to time, which only caused their begging from me to worsen," he related.

"On one such occasion during the year 2000, I do not remember the date, some of the complainants got onto the rear of my light delivery vehicle and suggested that they perform sexual acts with me against payment.

Although I protested at first, I succumbed to the proposal because I suffered from sexual urges.

"We then drove some distance out of town and parked in the bush where they fondled my genitalia and had sexual intercourse with me per anum.

I paid them some money afterwards and took them back to town.

"After this first incident, I was held at ransom by the complainants who threatened to go to the authorities whenever I indicated that I wanted to stop or that I was no longer prepared to give them money.

They would simply get onto the rear of my vehicle and say that we must 'play'.

I realise, however, that I could have stopped at any time and avoided them altogether had I wanted to."

The acts that happened during their first encounter were repeated from time to time up to March last year, Roux stated.

Initially he paid the boys small amounts of money ranging between N$10 and N$20, he related.

As they demanded more money from him, he gradually paid them more, until he handed over a total of N$30 000 to five of them on April 6 last year, after five of the boys had suggested that he pay them off so that they would not bother him again, Roux stated.

Except for not accepting Roux's pleas on four of the charges, Herunga also disputed his claims that the boys had initiated the suggestions of having sexual contacts with him.

The State would try to prove that in fact these suggestions had first come from Roux's side, and that an unequal relationship had existed between the farmer and the boys, in terms of factors like financial means, social standing, and age, she told the court.

According to Roux himself, when he first applied to be released on bail, the boys' ages varied between ten and 15 years.

Roux remains free on bail of N$20 000.

He had been held in Police custody from his arrest on April 6 last year until the High Court granted him bail in mid-August last year.

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