Police ‘blunders’ an insult to justice
Cab attack and Grabouw case highlight lack of training – ISS
FROM evidence being left at the scene of a crime to a girl’s unconscious body being hauled into the back of a police van, the management of crime scenes in South Africa has an extremely negative effect on justice in South Africa.
This is according to a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
The families of Sanet de Lange – who says she was attacked in Claremont after hailing a cab –and a 14-year-old rape victim from Grabouw feel cheated at the way police have handled their cases.
De Lange’s mother Sanet senior said noone should have to go through what they went through.
“It is so unfair. No human being should be treated the way they treated her. There are big problems with how she was handled at the police station.”
Sanet senior initially did not open a case with the police and hired a private investigator instead, as she believed her chances with him working the case were better.
Police believed her daughter was dead when they found her bruised and covered in leaves on the side of the road and put her in the back of the van before transporting her to their precinct.
“They have no qualifications to move her, why didn’t they call an ambulance? She took a serious blow to the head and was in shock,” De Lange said.
Meanwhile, the sister of a 14-year-old who was raped and badly beaten on Saturday said police were elusive throughout the investigation.
The family was still in possession of the bloodied clothes the girl was wearing at the time of the attack and a visit to the crime scene showed some of her torn-off items of clothing, as well as the wire used to tie her up, were left behind by police.
“The police came here once and left; since then they never came back to us. We heard from people talking in the community that someone was arrested. They could have done more.”
“Why do they work like this?” she asked, adding that no counselling was offered to her sister or the family.
“She is better now, her arm is still a bit sore and she can’t keep anything down, we think it’s because of the shock.”
Some of these errors go unnoticed if the cases are not deemed to be high profile and do not garner a lot of media attention, according to the ISS’s Johann Burger.
Burger is a senior researcher for the institute and said police lack proper training and equipment.
“There are far too many examples of this… they (police) do not always have the proper equipment and training and this has an extreme negative impact on criminal justice system.”
He said the cases that receive media attention are usually high-profile cases, making reference to the case of former Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius and the axe murder of the Van Bredas in De Zalze earlier this year.
“Initially they do good work, but later it comes out that crucial evidence was missing. This happens on a daily basis. Police agree that they lack proper crime scene management.”
Rape Crisis director Kathleen Dey said 75 percent of the survivors that come to the organisation have said they received good service from Saps.
“There are of course pockets of excellence where you have detectives going the extra mile and others where there would be serious complaints, with forensic evidence being dumped in a field as one example.”
Dey added that police stations should have a guide on hand to familiarise staff with the relevant legislation.
“Police stations perform poorly in regard to this as well as lists of other support services available to guide the referral of rape survivors.
“Police stations are also required to have a properly staffed victim friendly room and we have found that the quality of service at these rooms can vary. Support for the volunteers that staff these rooms in terms of debriefing is also sometimes lacking.”