Sections of CPA are unconstitutional

THE Minister of Justice and Correctional Services has conceded that a section of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) that imposes a 20-year limit on prosecution for sexual assault is unconstitutional.

The ministry‚ through its counsel Geoff Budlender SC‚ told the Constitutional Court yesterday that it does not oppose a South Gauteng High Court order declaring Section 18 of the CPA unconstitutional.

A group of eight complainants of child molestation against the late stockbroker‚ Sidney Frankel‚ successfully had the section declared unconstitutional by the high court and approached the Constitutional Court asking it to confirm the lower court’s order.

Frankel died at his home in Johannesburg earlier this year‚ at the age of 68. — DDC