Police conduct in Pieters slaying to be probed
THE police officers who initially handled the Courtney Pieters disappearance and subsequent murder case may be investigated, with President Jacob Zuma and Police Minister Fikile Mbalula expected to meet to discuss the case.
Mbalula’s spokesperson Esethu Hasane confirmed the meeting would take place this week.
It’s alleged the officers, based at the Elsies River police station, were initially not co-operative when the little girl’s disappearance was first reported.
Courtney’s body was dis- covered in a shallow grave at Epping Industrial, which is about a kilometre from where she was last seen several days prior.
The 3-year-old was laid to rest on Saturday.
Zuma and Mbalula have both visited the Pieters family following the tragedy.
Family spokesperson and community leader Roegshanda Pascoe, who had assisted in the frantic search for the little girl, welcomed the high-level intervention.
“I am very disappointed with how the police handled this case at the beginning and how they treated us,” Pascoe said. “We had requested sniffer dogs when Courtney went missing and they simply ignored us.”
Pascoe said Mbalula had assured the family the case was a priority.
“We are glad our voices have been heard because there are many similar cases which police are not taking seriously, nor acting swiftly enough on. The minister has also requested to see our memorandum of grievances which we handed out at Parliament on Freedom Day,” she said.
In the memorandum, Pascoe said the community demanded “immediate action when cases of missing children are reported. We don’t want to be told of waiting periods. And we want to be consulted when people from our communities who are in prison are being considered for parole. We are the ones who have to live with those people, so we want to be able to have a say whether or not we want them back…”
Joanie Fredericks from the Mitchells Plain Crisis Forum said Courtney’s parents, Aaron Fourie and Juanita Pieters, were still reeling following the arrest of a man, 40, who had been renting a room in the family home.
The man has been charged with murder and two counts of rape.
“Apart from Courtney’s death, I think that is the worst,” Fredericks said. “I mean, he was a trusted friend. He was living here almost as a family member, so for us activists and community leaders, it puts on a whole new spin in terms of what is the new message we have to give to the community. Because traditionally we’d tell our kids to watch out for uncle so and so; don’t go with strangers, but now…” she said.
During his visit last week, Zuma said: “To think that a man who lived in the same house, stays with family, wakes up and faces the family and all the while pretending to know nothing… it is something totally abnormal…”