‘Frankel 8’ bid to overturn 20-year prescription clause on sex crimes

The brutal death of Karobo Mokoena, the rape of an eight-year-old girl by three Grade 7 school boys, the rape of a pregnant woman by 11 men, the rape and murder of three-year-old Courtney Pieters by someone known to her, the rape and murder of 19-year-old Sinoxolo Mafevuka allegedly by her cousins…

Tennis star Bob Hewitt, who was convicted on two counts of rape and one of indecent assault of three girls between 18 and 30 years ago.

The 2014 rape and murder four-year-old Jasmin-Lee Pretorius by her uncle, Sarel du Toit, who was eventually found guilty on both charges.

These are but a few of the recent high-profile cases that have found their way into the media, all with one thing in common: the suspects in the cases were all arrested, and even if they had not been found, their cases would have remained open forever.

When it comes to the “lesser” charge of sexual abuse, however, there is a time limit.

On Monday, eight litigants claiming they were sexually abused as children over a 10-year period 30 years ago will be endeavouring to overturn a law that states after 20 years victims of sexual abuse no longer have a criminal case.

Their claims were made against billionaire businessman Sydney Frankel, who died earlier this year.

If advocate Anton Katz, on behalf of the litigants and NGO Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA), is successful in the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday, the ruling will have to be confirmed by the Constitutional Court.

If this happens, it doesn’t mean the criminal charges will be reinstated against Frankel, but the pending civil case will be fortified, said Miranda Friedmann of the WMACA yesterday at a press briefing.

Also at the briefing was Dr Karen Müller of The Child Witness Institute, who revealed a recent study by a former special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation found 51% of sex offenders were situational, ie, were family members, and had, on average, two victims.

“Paedophiles make up the other 49% and have, on average, 150 victims,” said Müller

“Then, 93% of paedophiles were sexually abused as children. That is our problem. This is why we’re sitting with a situation; it’s an epidemic because they will reoffend.”

Müller said 51% of South Africa’s offenders were juveniles because they were abused at the age of five.

“So they’re doing it to children between the ages of seven to 10 years old.”

One of the Frankel 8, as the litigants have become known, Shane Rothquel, said the decision to try to overturn the 20-year prescription clause on sexual abuse wasn’t only about them, but about the many others who still faced a long road before they were ready to disclose their abuse.

“It’s a really sad state of affairs to even try to bring this kind of action where we have guaranteed protections for children in the constitution, and none of that has happened,” said Rothquel.

“To my mind, this is just one small brick in the wall which needs to be taken out to allow society to recover from what’s going on because it’s not about us eight, or what happened at Parktown Boys; this is happening almost every day in almost every family and we’re not talking about it,” Rothquel said.

“It’s not a cancer, it’s an epidemic and we’re seeing evidence of that this week.”