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!
