Demands to access sex pest lists

Communities want to protect their children from predators

THERE ARE 29 306 convicted sex offenders on the National Sex Offenders Register, and communities are demanding access to the registry so as to protect their kids against sexual predators moving into their neighbourhoods.

Mitchells Plain Crisis Forum chairperson Faizel Brown said, “There is something wrong with this scenario. The registry is intended to inform business, institutions and organisations working with children and mentally disabled people of offenders of sex crimes.”

Brown was speaking as a convicted sex offender appeared in court after he allegedly raped a 13-year-old girl Athlone girl.

The suspect moved into the area after his release from prison, where he served time for the rape of a 12-year-old.

“We must demand that the National Register of Sex Offenders be made available so that our communities are aware of who those offenders are, and the necessary mechanisms can be put in place to ensure the safety of our children. We must further demand that all sex offenders, including sex offences against women, are registered in the sex offenders register,” he said.

Brown said that the forum was compiling its own list. “We are in the process of recording all the cases with the aim of setting up our own sex offenders register which we will gladly share with organisations,” Brown said.

Mitchells Plain Impact Association Forum chairperson Joanie Fredericks said: “Community organisations in each community must be part of decisions around the release of sex offenders.”

Community activist Roegshanda Pascoe said: “We have been calling for years for the sex registry to be released, and I don’t think that the state can withhold that information from us.”

Pascoe said allowing a community to create its own list could cause potential harm: “If that list goes out it could cause harm, not only for the alleged perpetrator but for their family.”

Director of the Saartjie Baartman Centre Bernadine Bachar said: “The difficulty with the community composing their own registers of suspected child sex predators is that due process of law would not be followed and an innocent person may be recorded on the register.”

Criminal lawyer Tim Dunn said: “The danger is of course that a person is put on the list when they aren’t a sex offender and suffer huge damage. It’s a criminal offence to disclose or publish information contained in the register.”