Lieut-Col Wayne enjoys forensics

Lieut-Col Wayne Marais (55) is used to ugly crime scenes and accidents, but when children are involved, it still gets to him, even after 33 years of being in the police.

He has been the new commander of the forensics department at Secunda Police Station for a year now.

“Every young man wants to carry around a gun and work in civvies,” said Lieut-Col Marais about his decision to become a policeman.

He traded Ermelo for Secunda because Ermelo was too quiet for him.

Lieut-Col Marais grew up in Pietermaritzburg and joined the police college in Cape Town for six months before he was placed at the police station in Kokstad in KwaZulu-Natal.

He only spent one week working in the uniform branch, before he was moved to the investigations division and the forensics division.

He was transferred to Pietermaritzburg in 2008 and to Ermelo in 2018 before moving to Secunda last year.

“Secunda is a bigger challenge for me and that was what I was looking for,” said Lieut-Col Marais.

The most rewarding part of his job is when they can positively link a crime with a suspect through DNA results.

The forensics division works on statistics and must have least 57% of positive results for their cases.

The highlight of his career in the police was when he positively linked nine cases to suspects while he was still working in Kokstad.

The worst for him is still when he goes to scenes of accidents in which children died.

“I’m sure that touches all crime scene investigators’ hearts and you are just never in the same mental state again,” said Lieut-Col Marais.

“That is why I often go for debriefing sessions after such incidents.”

Lieut-Col Marais is also a qualified hostage negotiator and he used this skill often when he was still living in Kokstad, and especially Pietermaritzburg.

“It takes a lot of time to negotiate with a suspect who took someone hostage or with somebody who wants to commit suicide.

“You must have a good general knowledge to do that and know a little bit about the Bible and about current affairs because you have to talk to about whatever the person brings up.

“The most important thing when negotiating is to calm down the person and make sure everybody is calm.”

Lieut-Col Marais left the police service once, while he was still living in Kokstad and worked in the family business, but it lasted less than a year and he applied to the police again.

He was appointed again within three months after he applied.

In his free time, Lieut-Col Marais enjoys freshwater angling and he was even chosen for SAVOF’s (Suid-Afrikaanse Varswater Oewerhengel Federasie) A team for two years and the C team for three years.

He only took up angling as a competitive sport late in his life and he then angled for the police’s national B team, as well as the

North East Mpumalanga’s A team.

When he lived closer to the ocean, he took part in sea angling as well.

He did not angle the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but he wants to take up this sport again next year.

Lieut-Col Marais has three grandchildren and visits his family in KwaZulu-Natal when he gets the chance.