Child-unit cop 'not evaluated'

2003-02-13 09:36

Elsabe Brits

Cape Town - A sergeant with the Mitchell's Plain child protection unit, who is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl, did not undergo any psychiatric evaluation before he was appointed to the unit.

Michael Waters, Democratic Alliance MP and spokesperson on child abuse, said on Wednesday a senior officer had opposed the sergeant's appointment to the unit at the time.

The sergeant appeared in Wynberg magistrate's court on Tuesday on charges of rape and defeating the ends of justice.

Another man had raped the girl and the sergeant was appointed as investigating officer. He allegedly raped the victim two days after the first rape.

Another member of the same unit was also arrested, for defeating the ends of justice, because he allegedly helped the sergeant to try to convince the child to withdraw the charge.

The CPU in Mitchell's Plain has a staff shortage of 92% - the worst of any of the units countrywide. The unit in Goodwood is 73% short-staffed according to a DA report.

Despite the shortage in the Mitchell's Plain unit, under the command of Superintendent Sonja Harris, it has a average conviction rate of 61.5%.

'True heroes of South Africa'

Waters said that only a special type of person should work at a CPU, but, because of serious shortages, anybody could be placed with them.

"My investigation found that 99% of the people at these units were committed and were the true heroes of this country. The police service, however, treats them like the stepchildren of the service," he said.

Waters had investigated the conditions at CPUs and found that only 47% of those with the Mitchell's Plain unit were trained to do this type of work and only 20% at the Goodwood unit.

Members of the Goodwood unit each had about 83 dossiers to investigate and the Mitchell's Plain officers each had about 70.

Waters said this played an important role because only 8% of child-abuse and child-rape cases resulted in convictions - which he called treason against the children of this country.

Mitchells Plain had only 11 vehicles, four of which had more than 200 000 km on the clock.

The unit in Goodwood had 12 vehicles, but they were never all in working condition and six had done more than 200 000 km.

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- Die Burger