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Criminal record ‘reappears’

A traffic officer who had no criminal record despite being convicted of culpable homicide last year, now has a conviction of culpable homicide against her name.

August 13, 2018

Jana Boshoff 2 minutes read

Evelyn Stuurman was convicted of the crime in June 2017. She had to serve 12 months of correctional supervision(house arrest) and completed her sentence in July this year.

In spite of this, Ms Stuurman managed to obtain a police clearance certificate, stating that she had no criminal record, in May this year. When asked how she managed to do this, she refered all questions to municipal spokesperson, Prudence Magutle.

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Ms Magutle said that Ms Stuurman successfully applied to have her record cleared after completing her sentence. Something that is not legally possible as the law requires for a criminal offence to reflect for ten years before you can apply to the Minister of Justice to have it removed.

A request was sent to Ms Magutle to provide www.mobserver.co.za with documentation proving that Ms Stuurman applied to have her record cleared. Due to the public holiday on Thursday, a response could not be obtained from the municipality before going to press.

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Brig. Leonard Hlathi said that an investigation revealed that the ‘mistake’ happened at the Middelburg Police Station. Ms Stuurman’s documentation was never sent to the Criminal Records Office.

Brig. Hlathi said that the documents have since been sent and that Ms Stuurman’s criminal record should reflect against her name within the week.

During a previous media enquiry, Ms Magutle said that the municipality will reconsider the appointment of Ms Stuurman as traffic warden if they receive proof that she does, in fact, have a criminal record.

Municipal law requires that no one with a criminal offence can work as a traffic officer.