'Clitoris Collector' did not break law when he sliced off genitals to store in his freezer

The so-called 'Danish Clitoris Collector' has been acquitted of 20 charges relating to removing women's clitorides and storing them in his freezer after a South African judge found on 24 October that he had not broken any laws.

Peter Frederiksen, 62, mutilated nine women in amateur surgical procedures, removing their clitoris and keeping them individually bagged in cold storage at his Bloemfontein home. However, thanks to a deficiency of South African law, he will not be punished.

The Dane still faces a further 38 charges, including raping a minor and arranging a hit on his wife, in a trial that has stunned the nation. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them.

Police began investigating Frederiksen when his wife reported that he had pierced and cut – though not removed – her clitoris when she was drunk. Officers then found the nine frozen clitorides, which are believed to belong to women in nearby Lesotho.

Frederiksen told Free State High Court the women had consented to his amateur surgery and that he had anesthetised them before removing their organs.

That claim is no longer relevant after the judge found that South Africa's National Health Act did not make it a crime to remove human tissues without a person's permission, nor was it illegal to do so at an unregistered location, South Africa's News 24 reports. The judge noted that the legislature should move the amend this.

Paedophile Pig

Earlier in the trial, a nine-year-old Lesotho girl told the court via video link that she had been raped by Frederiksen. It is alleged that Frederiksen made a diary entry titled "Paedophile Pig" on one of the days he abused her. She did not have her genitals mutilated.

It is claimed that indecent pictures of that girl are among several he had taken of Lesotho children. He told the court the pictures were taken for "research purposes" as part of a project he was working on, investigating the differences between European and African vaginas.

He said his research was "important to society" but he had not been able to complete it since being taken into custody two years ago. He faces 18 charges of manufacturing child pornography.

A month after her initial allegation, Frederiksen's then-estranged wife was found shot dead outside her home. Wheelchair-bound convict Motlatsi Moqeti, who is serving 11-years for an unrelated robbery and attempted murder, earlier told the court that Frederiksen had paid him around £2,000 to arrange a hit on her.

The State alleges that investigators found confiscated gun parts in his shop which should have been destroyed by police, and that he failed disclose four previous firearms offences in his native Denmark when he applied for a South African gun licence.

Police also found surgical instruments, piercing equipment, anaesthetics, women's panties, bags of pubic hair and a vibrator in Fredriksen's bedroom. The trial continues.