Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
‘Release Station Strangler’
PRISON rights activists, crime fighters and the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) are demanding the release of the man dubbed the Station Strangler, saying that he has paid for his mistakes after nearly 30 years behind bars.
South African Human Rights Commissioner, Reverend Chris Nissen, said Norman “Afzal” Simons must be freed as he had taken his punishment following the kidnapping and murder of Elroy van Rooyen,10, in 1995.
Simons was suspected of being a serial killer after the bodies of 22 young boys were found in shallow graves between 1986 and 1994, but he was convicted only of Elroy’s murder.
He was sentenced to 25 years for murder and 10 years for kidnapping. His sentence was increased to life imprisonment after a failed appeal bid. Simons has been behind bars for 28 years.
“I was present when the bodies were discovered, I took the late former president Nelson Mandela to the house of the Samaai family. I am of the opinion that the law has already taken its course, and (Simons) has paid for his mistakes, whether he did one or others, leave it in God’s hands. He has been sentenced for the mistakes he made,” said Nissen.
“As a commission, please let him come out and let him open up to the world and tell us of his mistakes, he must live with what he did every day.”
Nissen also called on the City of Cape Town and society to create a wall of remembrance for the victims, who he said should never be forgotten.
Prison rights activist Reverend Golden Miles Bhudu said Simons had been forgotten by the custodians of parole.
“He should have been out after 13 years and eight months. They know that no one can call them to order, they have forgotten him.”
Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services spokesperson Emerantia Cupido, said it was in the hands of the minister of justice once a sentence of life was imposed and that the inspectorate had no jurisdiction over the length of sentences or parole.
Simons, now 55, is imprisoned at the Drakenstein Maximum Security Prison.
A former inmate who spent time with Simons at the same prison revealed he was healthy, pleasant behind bars and hard working.
He said Simons had a single cell, a TV set and was working inside an office and would return to his cell at the end of the day.
Three years ago, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said Simons was deemed a danger to society and that recommendations were to be submitted to the minister of justice and correctional services.
DCS spokesperson Candice Van Reenen said: “The department reserves comment on the status of the offender.”
Department of Justice spokesperson Stephen Mahlanga said any questions were best answered by the DCS.
Simons was a school teacher at Alpine Primary and a patient at a local psychiatric clinic in April, 1994.
According to a report compiled by professor of psychology at UCT Colin Tredoux, a nurse at the clinic had noticed Simons resembled a composite sketch released by the police.
Simons had been part of an identification parade and images of the line-up show him dressed in a mustard pants and cream top holding the number 23 on a board.
But Tredoux was not convinced by the eyewitness accounts during the identity parade, stating Simons was the only one who had been dressed with bright colours and that the first witness was unsure while another “hesitated”.
He said in his report: “What is there to say in the case of Afzal Norman Simons? There are striking similarities to many of the cases in the United States, where DNA evidence has exonerated 273 people.
“The first is eyewitness evidence of questionable merit. One eyewitness was unable to make an identification, and another made a hesitant identification (“Ek dink dis hy”), both from a line up that seems to have made insufficient effort to ensure that all members were dressed similarly.
“A superficial resemblance to a face composite was taken into account by a trial judge.
“A confession was submitted as evidence, but there are serious questions about the validity of the confession.
“There are also lingering concerns about the mental status of Simons during the interrogation.
Michael Jacobs, former Mitchells Plain community policing forum chairperson and crime activist, agreed with Tredoux’s findings.
Jacobs has an archive of documents and newspaper clippings dating back to when the murders began.
Jacobs said the man who fit the profile owned a vehicle to get to his destinations and that identity parade was inconclusive.
“Simons took public transport, where is the car? Why didn’t they find the car?
“During identity parades you always have to have the person with the same height and same colour but with this one there are people with different heights and there was no DNA.”