Almost two murders, hijackings a day in Bay

ALMOST two people are murdered or hijacked and almost three women raped in Nelson Mandela Bay every day.

These were some of the shocking figures revealed in the latest crime statistics released earlier this week by Police Minister Fikile Mbalula.

Mbalula was addressing parliament’s portfolio committee on police on the country’s crime figures for the period between April last year and March this year.

In the Eastern Cape, figures show that armed robberies and burglaries are on the rise, while murder, hijacking and sexual offences are on the decline.

The Herald compiled a breakdown on the Bay’s figures – looking particularly at serious crimes like murder, robberies and rape, as well as theft of cars and white-collar crime.

The figures are broken down into the policing precincts in which each suburb falls.

Based on the latest figures, the most dangerous areas in the Bay in terms of violent crimes such as robbery, rape and murder are New Brighton, Bethelsdorp and Kwazakhele.

Bethelsdorp had the highest murder rate with 117 murders for the period, followed by Kwazakhele with 103 and New Brighton with 90.

With regard to rape, New Brighton fared the worst with 121 reported rape cases, followed by Kwazakhele with 117 and Bethelsdorp with 114.

Hijackings saw a spike year-on-year with 608 cases reported during the 2015-16 period compared with the latest figures, with 669 reported cases.

The breakdown equates to almost two hijackings in the Bay each day.

Motorists in Kwazakhele were the most likely to be hijacked, with 152 cases reported, followed by New Brighton with 119 and Motherwell with 51.

Policing areas that showed the highest increase in hijackings included the popular beachfront area, falling under Humewood police station, where 32 hijackings were reported.

In the Bay, over the past financial year 905 cases of house robbery were reported – or 75 a month.

Kwazakhele had the most cases with 183, followed by New Brighton with 143 and the Walmer policing area with 87.

Another area that showed a large increase in house robberies was the Humewood policing area, which increased by 24 from 32 cases in 2015-16 to 56.

Home burglaries also soared, with 188 homes burgled every month.

The Mount Road policing area showing the largest spike with 634 burglaries, This was followed by the Algoa Park policing area with 272 cases and the Humewood area with 233 cases.

Businesses in the Bay also seem to be under siege with 685 business robbed and 5 713 burgled.

This equates to 57 businesses robbed and 476 burgled every month.

Hot-spot areas for business robberies included the New Brighton and Mount Road policing areas.

Businesses that were most hit by burglaries were in the Walmer and Kabega Park areas. Across the Bay, 1 454 vehicles were stolen. Figures show that you are most likely to have your car stolen in the Humewood area, followed by the Mount Road policing area and the Walmer area.

Bay safety and security mayoral committee member John Best said the municipality was meeting with police to ensure a joint fight against crime.

“We have already had several meetings with SA Police management. These have been very productive meetings and we have already adapted our operational plans to ensure a coherent and joint force in the fight against crime,” he said.