Cape Town – As the extent of crimes against
women and children came under the
spotlight when police released the
annual crime statistics in Parliament
yesterday, angry Heinz Park residents
protested outside the Wynberg
Magistrate’s Court demanding justice
for the rape and murder of 14-year-old
Janika Mallo.
According to
According to police, a total of 179 683 crimes against women and 45 229 against children were reported in the 2018-19 financial near.
Braving the wet weather, residents came out to support Janika’s family, as her accused rapists and killers, a minor and an 18-year-old man, appeared in court. The teenagers, also from the same area, made their second appearance in a closed court to protect the minor implicated.
The teenagers made their first appearance last Thursday after being arrested by Samora Machel police following the gruesome discovery of Janika’s half-naked body in her grandmother Pauline Butler’s backyard on September 1.
Her family believes she was gang-raped before being bashed repeatedly with a concrete block and are calling for more arrests.
Sitting on a bench outside court, Butler said: “At the scene, the 18-year-old was acting suspicious and had fresh scratch marks on his neck. So the arrest didn’t surprise me. He was arrested on Monday and on Tuesday the other one was arrested.
“They both allegedly belong to the Hard Livings gang and we know there are more.”
Enraged aunt Ellicia Martin, 35, said she was unhappy that the matter was heard in a closed court, and that the law should change when it came to juveniles who committed “heinous crimes”.
“No child can do what he did to our Janika. The so-called minor is also a re-offender. When President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke about the killings of children and gender-based violence, he mentioned no age on crimes.
Video: Okuhle Hlati
“We want no bail and we want life sentences for all these heartless perpetrators. That is the only way we will get closure as a family. I am happy that our community and the public has been supporting us. This is the hardest time of our lives,” said Martin.
The mother of the 17-year-old said if her son committed the crime, she would welcome his punishment.
The accused will remain in custody and are expected to make a third court appearance next Wednesday, following a postponement yesterday as the prosecutor was ill. Mallo will be laid to rest
on Saturday.
Major-General Norman
Sekhukhune said the crimes against
women involved murder, sexual
offences, attempted murder, assault
to do grievous bodily harm (GBH)
and common assault.
Gauteng, Western Cape,
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Eastern
Cape had the highest number of
crimes against women and children.
The figures show Gauteng
recorded 53 937 crimes against
women and children, Eastern Cape
28 945, KZN 33 667 Mpumalanga
12 029, Free State 15 316 and
Limpopo 12 226. North West
recorded 15 633, Northern Cape
7 167 and Western Cape 46 092.
According to Sekhukhune, the
murder of women stood at 2 771, a
reduction of 159 from the previous
reported year. He also said the
sexual offences tally was 36 597, a
reduction of 134 cases (0.4%).
Attempted murder stood at
3 445, down by 109 cases, while
assault (GBH) decreased by 879 to
54 142 cases while common assault
increased by 1 586 to 82 728.
Sekhukhune also said rape cases
decreased by 1.1%, a reduction of
355 to 30 626, while contact sexual
assault decreased by 27 to stand at 488. Sexual assault increased by 4.1%
to 3 771 and attempted rape by 6.1%
to 1 712.
Crimes against children showed
a total of 1 014 murders, total sexual
assault 24 387, attempted murder
1 184, assault (GBH) 7 815 and
common assault 10 829.
Sekhukhune also noted that there
were a number of youth in conflict
with the law.
“We have observed some of these
murders are committed by other
children themselves,” he said.
There were 737 cases where
children were the perpetrators and
not the victims of murder.
Sekhukhune said crimes
committed by children was not a
new phenomenon.
“We want to make you to
understand the contributory factors
that lead to the increase,” he said.
“We also felt for this financial
year it would be ideal to also
highlight the fact that the perception
might be these murders are
committed by adults on children,
whereas in some instances it is the
very same children who are killing
their peers.”
Ilitha Labantu and Molo
Songololo said they were concerned
that more children were committing
crime.
Ilitha Labantu spokesperson
Siyabulela Monakali said: “The
unfortunate part of living in a
violent society is that the children
are picking up these traits from their
violent communities.
"This is truly a
sad state of affairs because children
learn through the actions of the
adults.”
Molo Songololo director Patrick
Solomons said the stats were
alarming and disappointing.
“It highlights the lack of your
government’s responses to prevent
and combat crimes against people.
The stats paint an appalling picture
of violence against children.
“We need all of government at
national, provincial and local level,
in partnership with civil society
and local communities, to work
together,” said Solomons.