'Hang them!'

2003-08-03 18:15

Johannesburg - The hijacking and murder of three members of a Pretoria family last week has prompted a renewed call for the reinstatement of the death penalty.

New National Party spokesperson Adriaan van Jaarsveld said South Africa seriously had to consider reinstating the death penalty to punish the three men arrested in connection with the crime.

"The murder and rape of a mother and child ... is a despicable crime. This kind of crime justifies the calls by law-abiding citizens for the re-instatement of the death penalty," he said in a statement.

Human rights

"While there will be people who will be concerned with the human rights of the disgusting criminals when they are caught, there was no-one who could protect the human rights of the victims of this vicious crime."

He said it was time that the government independently researched the violence of crime in the country.

The NNP has a co-operative agreement with the ruling African National Congress, which opposes capital punishment.

Help from public

Democratic Alliance safety and security spokesperson Dougals Gibson said if one dared to seek a silver lining around the cloud of the incident, it would be that information supplied by the public enabled the speedy arrests.

"The speedy arrest of three suspects in this gruesome case demonstrates clearly the crucial role that members of the public play in the successful investigation of crimes by the police.

"The only way to get crime under control in our country is to arrest and successfully prosecute the criminals, and see to it that those that are found guilty are appropriately punished," Gibson said in a statement.

Too many crimes went unsolved because members of the public did not do their duty as citizens and come forward to help the police.

He said if the government dedicated enough resources to tackling the increasingly violent hijacking crime wave and communities helped, South Africa could make its streets and driveways safe again.

Arrests

The three men, all in their 20s, were arrested in Stinkwater near Hammanskraal in the North West on Friday night.

The arrests followed the hijacking of Janine Drennen, 24, her one-year-old baby daughter Kayla, and her fiance's mother Hester Rawstone, 52, in Sunnyside, Pretoria on Thursday.

Rawstone was shot in the neck and her body dumped in Riviera.

The men then drove to Stinkwater where they allegedly kidnapped a teenage girl. They allegedly raped Drennen and the girl, then shot them both and the baby Kayla.

The girl survived and was admitted to the Jubilee Hospital. Drennen and the baby were killed.

The men will appear in the Temba magistrate's court in Hammanskraal on Monday.

- SAPA