Umhlali Saps’ one woman army gets justice for abused women and children

Thousands of victims of rape, child abuse and family violence are never given the justice they sorely deserve, but one woman in KwaDuuza is doing her best to make a difference.

It is a gruelling task which understandably eats away at a person, but for warrant officer Deepa Naidoo of the KwaDukuza family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, it is one which needs to be done.

Working hand-in-hand with victims of abuse, officer Naidoo said that although her job is emotionally draining at times, she remains motivated by the success stories.

When sexual abuse is reported, a case is opened at the SAPS and the victim is taken to the Thuthuzela Centre at General Justice Gizenga Memorial hospital. If it is after hours, the victim will go to casualty.

The Thutuzela centre is a ‘one-stop shop’ for victims who are first seen by a doctor who collects body fluid samples for DNA analysis.

Then a social worker provides counselling and, if needed, they are then referred to other support initiatives at the centre.

From there, officer Naidoo steps in to investigate.

“My recent success case was that of a serial rapist at the Durban High Court last December. The accused was convicted of raping and robbing seven women after offering them employment. He was convicted on all counts and sentenced to life imprisonment.”

More recently, during lockdown, officer Naidoo said she was investigating a very traumatic rape of a child.

“An eight-year-old girl was raped by her father’s friend,” said officer Naidoo.

The father had allowed his friend to stay over as he had been stranded during lockdown.

“Coping with the cases I deal with is not easy,” said the officer, who completes 30 years of service with the Saps come July this year.

“We are offered counselling services if required, however I have only used this service once in my career and prefer to cope on my own with the support of colleagues and my family.”

Meanwhile, with lockdown in full swing, the unit have had their hands full with lockdown hampering many court cases.

Speaking about some of the challenges she faces, Naidoo said valuable resources were wasted when false cases were reported to the Saps, often by teenagers.

Born and raised in Pietermaritzburg, she had two options after matric – either join the navy or the police. She could not see herself working behind a desk.

“I was attracted by the training and active duty of police officers and decided to join the Saps in 1990,” said Naidoo.

While working in East London, she married her police officer husband, Dave, who will have completed 40 years of service himself come October.

They have two children, Damien and Simone.

They moved to Chatsworth where after further training at the Saps college, she moved to Umhlali Saps in 1994.

Despite working alone, often 24/7 and seeing to cases all over KwaDukuza, Naidoo remains motivated to bring justice to the victims of family violence, crimes against children and sexual offences.

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