“You always know that it’ll be your turn someday. You read – or try to avoid, depending on your state of mind – countless articles about other people being attacked, listen to friends and family as they recall the horror of a hijacking, a house robbery, of a knife in the ribs while a bag is snatched.”
When your child is a victim of a crime
Ms Ciska Kay spoke to Lowvelder about the morning her husband and little boy of only 10 years old were dropped off by a police officer at their home in April this year. They went to friends for a braai the previous night and never returned.
Kay couldn’t reach them, but actually never thought that something had happened to them. She was shocked beyond belief when her visibly shaken husband and son told her that they had been held up and robbed.
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“My husband and son arrived home ashen-faced. Weary. In shock. A boys’ sleepover drop-off had gone horribly wrong. The story unfolds in bits. The surprise. The nowhere they came from. The rounding up. The gun. The crowbar. Being lined up face down on the floor. The red shoes kicking. The threats. The fear. The little boy who started crying when his mom was punched in the mouth. And the relief, the sweet relief, when it is finally over.
“And there I was, sitting on the stoep, rocking and crying while my boys tried to sleep, weary from the ordeal they had gone through. I cried for the lost innocence of my blue-eyed child and trust that was broken forever. I cried for my husband, a proud, strong man, to have been humiliated and disempowered in that way. I cried for the other family, attacked in their own home and for our country, this brutal and beautiful place, with its terrible price tag.”
A life reduced to a number
Police commissioner Gen Riah Phiyega released the country’s crime statistics on Tuesday. It was announced that
17 805 South Africans had been murdered in 2014/15. The murder rate is up by more than four per cent, with 49 incidents occurring every day. A total of 129 045 robberies were reported, depicting an increase of 8,5 per cent since 2013/14.
These loss of lives were reduced to numbers. But behind every number is a person whose life has been changed for ever after having fallen victim to a violent crime. A person such as Kay, who, although not having been a direct victim of the crime, obviously suffered tremendous secondary trauma as a result.
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Lowvelder also spoke to a couple who fell victim to a brutal farm attack near Mbombela in May this year. They wished to remain anonymous. The man was overpowered when he went outside that evening to switch off a generator. He was repeatedly hit with a spade over the head and spent nine days in a hospital’s high-care unit where he had to undergo reconstructive surgery. Although he was fortunate enough to not sustain serious brain damage, he lost his sense of smell and taste and the damage is most likely permanent.
He blacked out shortly after having been attacked and couldn’t recall much of their ordeal. His wife heard his cries for help and managed to press a panic button and make a call to their security company shortly before she too was overpowered in their home.The perpetrators dragged her outside and asked for the keys to the safe. She pretended not to know where it was and this immediately proved to have been the wrong move. She was hit with the spade on the back of the head and through the face. Eventually she was taken back into the house and showed them the keys.
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They opened the safe and took out all the firearms in front of her and even cocked some of them. One of the attackers got hold of her cellphone and noticed that she had made a call to the security company and this prompted the assailants to finally leave.
“This may not happen again,” she said. “The second time may not unfold so smoothly.” Yet, the couple is adamant to remain on the farm from which they generate an income. “We love staying here and don’t want to leave.”
“I don’t read newspapers anymore and I don’t watch the news, but I’ve heard that the crime statistics showed an overall increase,” the husband said. “The police need to be stricter and we need harsher prison sentences. Also, I need to have the right to act and protect my property and family when I find an intruder on my yard or in my house,” the husband said.
Is better policing the answer?
The statistics were provided by province. The Institute for Security Studies narrowed these down even further to every station within the various provinces. A total of 14 murders were reported within Mbombela’s policing district in 2013/14, with eight having been reported in 2014/15. That is a decrease of six murders. A total of 169 cases of driving under the influence of alcohol were reported in 2013/14, with 113 reported in 2014/15.
Sexual crimes decreased with two, from 77 reported in 2013/14 to 75 in 2014/15. Drug-related crimes increased significantly, from 336 cases reported in 2013/14 to 503 in 2014/15.
Mr Gareth Newham, head of the Institute of Security Studies’ governance, crime and justice division, says that the overall increase in serious violent crimes shows a failure of police strategy. “South Africa has seen a third successive year of increases in the most serious categories of violent and organised crime, yet the country lacks clear strategies to reverse this dangerous trend.
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“Armed robberies are a key indicator of police effectiveness because they are typically committed by a relatively small number of repeat offenders who are usually organised. This means that a clear robbery-reduction strategy that is intelligence-led and backed up by specialised teams of detectives, will lead to the identification, arrest and successful prosecutions of increasing numbers of armed robbers and the buyers of stolen goods.
“The fact that robberies have increased, raises questions about the extent to which police resources are being effectively used. South Africans should not have to suffer yet another year in which violent robberies are increasing on their streets and in their homes and places of work. It simply isn’t necessary as this is a crime that the police have the personnel, expertise and resources to reduce.
“With a budget of around R80 billion, some of the best technology in the world, and more than 194 000 personnel, the SAPS should be better able to reduce crimes such as robbery.”
