A lesson for law makers
The recent bail skipping by Jurgen Vandekeere, the man accused of murdering of Chantelle Barnard, should be lesson enough to send a strong message to law makers to rethink the rules of their game.
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail.
This is, therefore, not reason enough to make someone who is faced with a possibility of life in jail to avail themselves for trial just because they have some property deposited or pledged to court, especially if they have a chance of starting afresh elsewhere.
Bail should not be offered under some circumstances; for instance, if the accused is considered likely not to appear for trial regardless of bail.
Legislatures should also set out certain crimes such as murder to be not bailable, due to the hefty sentence that sometimes accompanies such crimes.
Suspects should remain in jail until their trial is over.
This is not a suggestion that all accused persons are guilty and in this case, Vandekeere, just like any other suspect, remains innocent until proven otherwise.
I remember when I attended and reported on this case in 2012, during the bail application that the investigating officer was vehemently opposed to Vanderkeere getting bail due to the fact that he has links in Belgium and therefore is a flight risk.
It, however, took some convincing and assurances by his legal team to make the state finally give in and grant him bail.
Now what?
He is nowhere to be found and now the investigating officer must start looking for the man they had arrested and locked in the prison cells only to be let loose by the justice department.
And if it happens that he is not being found the justice department would rarely be blamed as all the fingers are very much likely to point at the direction of the police for being incompetent bunch.
Judging by the enormous reaction on our facebook page on this issue, I think the justice system needs a serious reshake.
Some crimes should not be bailable.
And though it might sound like trampling on other people rights, the school of thought here is that it should not be an issue to trample on the rights of those who allegedly took other people’s rights, especially the right to live.
