It seems like the victims have no rights - the perpetrators have all the rights and government seem to be backing the perps!
come on guys, isn't it time to just get it right now?
Father who allegedly sodomised baby gets bail
Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
November 23 2006 at 04:50AM
A man allegedly sodomised his 16-day-old son so brutally that photographs of the infant's anal injuries caused his lawyer to withdrew from the case. Now child rights groups are outraged after the 36-year-old technician was released on R3 000 bail by the Welkom district court on Tuesday because he apparently has a heart condition.
The father argued that his condition was so bad that he needed surgery in the past and the prison could not provide him with his medication while awaiting trial. The groups also raised concern that the man could have been charged with a more serious offence of rape, instead of indecent assault, had parliament fast-tracked the Sexual Offences Bill, which has been stalled for almost 10 years.
'We don't make the law a living reality for children'
The alleged incident took place in February at the house the man shared with his then live-in-lover. At the time, the infant's mother was in hospital. One evening, the man - who cannot be named to protect the child's identity - allegedly sexually molested the child. When the woman was discharged from hospital, the man refused to let her or the housekeeper change the infant's nappies.
The following day, when the man was at work, the mother noticed that something was wrong with her son and took him to hospital. Doctors confirmed the boy had been sexually molested. When the man's previous attorney looked at the photographs depicting the boy's anal injuries, he could not bring himself to represent his client and withdrew from the case.
'It makes a mockery of the 16 days of activism'
After terminating his services, the attorney indicated to prosecutors he did not wish to discuss the case with anyone. The accused's strict bail conditions require that he report to Welkom police twice a week and not leave the magisterial district or contact any of the state witnesses.
The Star understands that the mother and her son, now 10 months old, have since left the Welkom area. Miranda Friedmann, of Women and Men Against Child Abuse, said South Africa's criminal justice system was covered "in the blood of a three-week-old baby... when it granted bail to the (alleged) perpetrator, who is now at home, while his son receives medical attention for pain and injuries beyond our imagination".
She said the government was talking a lot of hot air when it raised issues of victim empowerment and victims' rights because it appeared that the right of an accused were more important. She lamented that government policies relating to victims of rape and abuse were hardly properly implemented.
Lisa Vetten, senior researcher at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, said it was unacceptable that parliament had delayed passing the Sexual Offences Bill as it redefined rape in cases where children and women were anally penetrated. She said it should generally not be easy to grant bail to people charged with sexual offences. However, she acknowledged that in cases where people were awaiting trial, it was difficult for the department of correctional services to give medication because the accused were not convicted criminals. "If he was a convicted prisoner he would have been given his medication (because a heart condition was life threatening)," she said.
Carrie Shelver of People Opposing Women Abuse said that when it came to considering bail, a number of factors needed to be taken into account - like the extent to which an accused represented a threat to the complainant and society. "This is unacceptable (that the technician was granted bail). His heart condition could not prevent him from sexually abusing the child." Shelver also accused parliament of being too slow in passing the Sexual Offences Bill. "We were told in August last year that the bill would be passed by the end of last year. Now we are told it will be passed by next year. This kind of case has to spur on civil society to hold the government responsible," she said.
Childline's Joan van Niekerk also accused the government of tardiness to pass the bill. She said the law always failed those whom it was supposed to protect. The vulnerability of children was not recognised by the district courts because officials there were not trained like the High Court authorities. "It makes a mockery of the 16 days of activism. We are talking a lot of child protection, we don't make the law a living reality for children," said Van Niekerk. The baby's father is to appear in court on March 22, when he is expected to plead.
This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on November 23, 2006
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