Bid to ban media from exposing child victims, offenders in court

Children’s rights bodies have asked the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to impose a permanent blanket ban on child victims and offenders ever being identified by the media.

The Centre for Child Law (CCL), Childline SA, the National Insti- tute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders and Media Monitoring Africa have taken the country's major media groups to court.

They were seeking an order to extend the anonymity protection afforded by section 154(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act to child victims and offenders after they turn 18.

They presented expert evidence showing child victims or offenders who were identified in the media had suffered psychological harm, and that identification was detrimental for their recovery from trauma and reintegration into society.

The organisations included affidavits by two child family killers, who have since fully rehabil- itated and reintegrated in society, but feared there was nothing to stop the media from exposing their identities.

The application originated when CCL assisted a girl known as Zephany Nurse, who was snatched as a baby, to obtain an interdict to stop the media from identifying her when she turned 18.

The media has undertaken not to identify her pending the outcome of any appeal in the case, but CCL has accused the medium of deliberately violating the court order.

Such protection should rather be handled on a case-by-case basis, media representative Wim Trengove said.

But the justice minister was in favour of the application.