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Cape Argus story

Push to capture serial rapists

May 28 2012 at 11:53am
By STAFF REPORTER
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INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Monique Strydom. Photo: Tracey Adams
Fifty Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offence (FCS) police detectives have been given special training to deal with serial rape cases as the incidence of this type of crime escalates.

At the weekend, Matla A Bana, a local NGO, took a serious stance in an effort to help clamp down on serial rapists. Matla A Bana – with the slogan “A voice against child abuse” – hosted specialised training sessions with 50 detectives representing all the areas in the Western Cape.

Matla A Bana chief executive Monique Strydom said cases in which children were raped mostly involved serial rapists.

The team of 50 detectives attended a two-day training course in The Investigation of Serial Rape, which was led by one of SA’s top experts, Professor Gerard Labuschagne.

The focus of Matla A Bana is to minimise the secondary abuse child victims suffer when they report crimes, so they work very closely with the police FCS units.

Detectives received training in the profiling of perpetrators, modus operandi and the crucial skill of linking cases.

FCS units are investigating a series of serial rapes in Cape Town and smaller towns, including Vredenburg and Knysna.

Strydom said that with this type of specialised training, cases would now be resolved much quicker. She added that “the public should give the police credit for the arresting of such offenders”.

Matla A Bana said that during the last three years, more than 1 500 rape cases had been linked as being part of serial rape behaviour, using the police DNA laboratories.

“How many others still go undetected remains to be discovered. It turns out that rape victims do not have a voice and serial rapists get away with rape, and possibly murder as well,” the NGO said.

“It is because of a lack of a specialised task team and officers not communicating that many of these cases are only picked up after a series of rapes, or even murder, has taken place.”

Labuschagne said one serial rapist could rape up to 40 women and added that the police should not back-slap each other when arresting a serial rapist – they should be ashamed that they had only caught the perpetrator at such a late stage.

natasha.prince@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

SERIAL RAPISTS DEALT A BLOW by MAB

During the last three years more than 1500 serial rape cases have been linked by the DNA laboratories of SAPS. How many others still go undetected remains to be discovered? If these were cash-in- transit heist numbers we were talking about, the business community would be up in arms and a special task team put into place to investigate these crimes. It turns out that rape victims do not have a voice and serial rapists get away with rape – and possibly murder as well. It is a well known fact that serial rape often escalates into murder, like the case of the Sunday Rapist who is currently on trail in Gauteng.

In the Western Cape these offenders will soon discover that their crimes will not go as unnoticed. This is due to a specialised training course hosted by Matla A Bana – A voice against child abuse. The focus of this NGO is to minimise the secondary abuse child victims suffer when they report crimes, so they work very closely with the SAPS Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offence units. During this two training course , 50 detectives representing all the areas in the Western Cape, were trained in the Investigation of Serial Rape by one of South Africa’s top experts, Professor Gerard Labuschagne.

Detectives received training in the profiling of the perpetrator, modus operandi and the very crucial skill of linking cases. It is because of a lack of a specialised task team and officers not communicating that many of these cases are only picked up after a series of rapes, or even murder has taken place. Professor Labuschagne stated that the police should not tap themselves on the shoulder when arresting a serial rapist, they should be ashamed that they only got the perpetrator at such a late stage.

Currently the FCS units are investigating a series of serial rapes in Cape Town and small towns like Vredenburg and Knysna. With this type of specialised training, cases will now be resolved much quicker. Matla A Bana CEO, Monique Strydom, stated during the certificate award ceremony, that “the public should give the police credit for the arresting of such offenders. The arrest of one serial rapist will means the solving of many cases as these people often perpetrate many crimes”. Prof Labuschagne said that one serial rapist can rape up to 40 women.

This training was made possible by the generous sponsorship of iTemba Labs. Monique Strydom highlighted that fact that business, civil society and the police can form a formidable partnership in fighting the war against crime. With more partnerships and more of this kind of training combined with the dedication showed by units like the SAPS FCS unit to put serial rapists behind bars, one can expect to soon see an increase in the arrests of these predators.  

Thank you iTemba Labs for your generous sponsorship!

PAYFAST

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