A RAPIST must be extremely unlucky to get convicted in South Africa.
Of the 62 649 sexual offences cases reported to the police in 2013-14, only 5 484 resulted in convictions.
The remaining 57 165 cases fell through the cracks.
The scourge of rape is under harsh public scrutiny following the arrest of Nelson Mandela’s grandson for the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl on August 7 in Johannesburg.
In this case, the suspect was arrested and has appeared in court twice, and will appear again tomorrow.
But in most cases, similar levels of performance in the justice system are not evident.
New research focusing on the state of police and health services available for sexual offences victims shows the processing of rape cases is often inconsistent and riddled with problems.
If prosecutors feel that a case is not strong enough, they do not proceed with it.
“If there is no corroborating evidence, then it becomes a case of his word against her word,” an official from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) cited in the paper, “Health and Police Services to Sexual Offences Victims”, said.
The research, by independent researcher Joy Watson, shows the odds are largely stacked against rape survivors in their quest for justice.
The procedures are complex, victims are traumatised, and police are untrained, overworked and underresourced.
Interviews conducted with police, prosecutors, clinical forensic doctors and other experts in the field revealed:
- Police were inefficient and negligent in collecting evidence;
- If the perpetrator was unknown to the victim, detectives had only a 2% chance of finding the rapist;
- The NPA had an ongoing battle to get the police to conduct timely analysis of rape kits;
- Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs) – centres where rape victims can go for assistance – reported not having rape kits for about 12 months;
- Last year, KPMG reported that gender-based violence cost South Africa between R28.4-billion and R42.4-billion a year.
The report tracks how the bungling of these cases often begins with evidence collection by the police.
Officers were unsympathetic towards victims, the research found.
Officials delayed taking statements from victims, and at times did not take statements from witnesses at all.
Forensic evidence was compromised and often police did not investigate the scene of the crime.
Rape kits “sit in closets” or got lost, the report found. There were lengthy delays in receiving DNA evidence.
But the research also found that police had heavy workloads which left them unable to cope with the demands placed on them.
A lack of resources also affected their ability to do their jobs.
One Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit reported not having access to e-mail facilities.
Challenges were fuelled by lack of resources for other service providers.
There were only 52 TCCs in the country, providing support to 419 police stations and thousands of victims.
-Aarti J Narsee
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