the story continues > mini-doc transcript - andre and the police's story

Mini-doc transcript - Andre and the police's story

• September 2002
• September 2002
• Three months later
• One year later
• The Director of Public Prosecutions gets involved

September 2002

Cathy [v/o]: Under the new South African government a Unit had been established in Johannesburg to deal specifically with sexual assault and child rape cases. The head of the Unit was Supt. Andre Neethling and he had some good news for me.

Andre: We are the investigating authority. We are not the prosecuting authority. But what we can do from our side is to re-open the case and look at those questions that you had because if a case was withdrawn it can be re-opened at any time.

[Scene shows Cathy meeting Arnold.]

Cathy: Pleased to meet you.

Cathy [v/o]: Andre assigned the case to Captain Arnold Boonstra and gave me permission to follow the investigation and to film it.

[Scene shows streets of Jo’burg. Arnold and Ferdi in a car.]

Cathy [v/o]: Police work in Johannesburg is dangerous and hundreds of police officers are killed each year in the line of duty.

September 2002

Cathy [v/o]: Under the new South African government a Unit had been established in Johannesburg to deal specifically with sexual assault and child rape cases. The head of the Unit was Supt. Andre Neethling and he had some good news for me.

Andre: We are the investigating authority. We are not the prosecuting authority. But what we can do from our side is to re-open the case and look at those questions that you had because if a case was withdrawn it can be re-opened at any time.

[Scene shows Cathy meeting Arnold.]

Cathy: Pleased to meet you.

Cathy [v/o]: Andre assigned the case to Captain Arnold Boonstra and gave me permission to follow the investigation and to film it.

[Scene shows streets of Jo’burg. Arnold and Ferdi in a car.]

Cathy [v/o]: Police work in Johannesburg is dangerous and hundreds of police officers are killed each year in the line of duty.

[Scene shows Arnold & Ferdi walking through car park, then eating breakfast.]

Cathy [v/o]: Arnold and his buddy Ferdi always worked together, and their main focus was the investigation of serial rapists and child rape.

Arnold on phone: Ja, its an old case of rape that was investigated.

[Scene shows notice board and newspaper billboards.]

Cathy [v/o]: He had over 80 cases that he was currently investigating, including many of child and baby rape, and understandably these had to take precedence over my mother’s case.

Andre: We’ve got 1800 cases that we investigate at the moment – which is all - we cannot distinguish between our cases. These are all – it’s not property crime.

These are all assault on people.

Three months later

Andre (with police file): We fully investigated and this is the best product that we can give to the Prosecutor and hopefully that will be enough to get a….at least a court case going.

One year later

Andre: Arnold and Ferdi that you met during the making of this film haven’t slept for three days now. I actually had to force them to go home last night and get some sleep – but they started at 5 o’clock this morning again – and they look a bit haggard at this stage.

Cathy [off screen]: So I’m not going to be able to see them?

Andre: I doubt it. I don’t think they want to be seen the way they looking at the moment. They are visibly very tired – red eyed and whatever.

Cathy [off screen]: Have you got any more resources than you had a year ago?

Andre: Yes. We have, specifically in Gauteng – I believe there is an absolute urgency around crimes committed against women and children and our Unit specifically – the units were resourced to capacity just soon after you left. All the units were resourced in terms of vehicles and logistical resources to capacity.

Andre cont.: Sexual abuse, rape, sexual assault – these kinds of things happen in privacy. It’s not like an armed robbery where people burst into a bank and you’ve got 20 – 30 witnesses and whatever. This happens usually where people are alone in a room – it happens in seclusion.

[Graphic: 24 LIFE SENTENCES ISSUED IN GAUTENG REGION IN PAST THREE MONTHS.]

Andre cont.: And you sit with the situation of the single witness. And that’s why it's so prominent for me that we were able to have 24 life sentences issued, considering how difficult it often is to deal with these cases.

[Graphic: 44 SEXUAL PREDATORS JAILED IN GAUTENG IN PAST THREE MONTHS]

Andre cont.: Besides the 24 life sentences issued, 44 sexual predators received jail sentences which ranged from one to 25 years – another 44 on top of that. So I think that’s just proof that we can’t just sit down and say we can’t prove these cases, let’s stop working on it, or let’s just take it as it comes... or whatever. You’ve got to work hard at it, and you can get justice at the end of the day.

Andre cont.: I haven’t been following your mother’s case as closely, but the last that I dealt with it, it was presented to the Director of Public Prosecutors for a decision, and subsequently I believe Arnold Boonstra, the investigating officer is still investigating the matter.

The Director of Public Prosecutions gets involved

[Graphic: ADVOCATE THOKO MAJOKWENI, SPECIAL DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS]

Cathy [off screen]: So what can you tell me about the status of the investigation in my mother’s case?

Thoko: Well the case is... we have the docket and we’ve looked through it. We have discovered that there are a number of gaps that exist in the investigation that needs to be done and we are taking it very seriously. We are putting in some steps into having it further investigated to see if, at the end of the day, we can proceed with the case or not.

Thoko cont.: We are also considering whether we shouldn’t have a separate and national team because of what we are finding in terms of how the investigation has continued – we need to look at whether we shouldn’t have a different team investigating this case further so that that team can identify other issues that we should be looking at in terms of where there is disciplinary action that we can take against people who have not done their job well.

Thoko cont.: I would like seriously to say that I am really sorry about her experience. It’s not something you would wish on your worst enemy – and certainly we are tyring to do our best, you know, to settle the matter one way or another. We will give her feedback of what has transpired and of our decision, whether or not it is to prosecute.