Opening up old wounds for closure

THE Gert van Rooyen paedophile case, the new developments of which were reported on our front page last week, would be well familiar to older readers.

How could it not be?

Almost three decades ago, six young girls are snatched away from their families and never seen again.

Today, this would be called human trafficking on an unprecedented scale.

Their distraught parents and siblings agonised, waiting for any small piece of information that would lead to their safe recovery.

Newspapers and magazines, TV and radio were inundated with reports of the girls being seen – none of which led to any concrete findings or arrests.

The suspect and his partner are reported as to having died by Van Rooyen’s own hand in a murder/suicide, although this is hotly debated by many.

In fact, every time progress appears to be made during investigations, the findings are dismissed – tempting many to believe persons higher up on the chain of command are protecting those possibly implicated.

This is all hearsay, but what is true is that the might of the country’s investigative resources poured into the search yielded nothing.

How is that possible, unless the course of justice was perverted?

This newspaper has been involved from the start by publishing photos and descriptions of the girls and posting contact numbers.

Then it got closer home, when a local psychic shared information on where she believed at least two of the young girls had been taken.

We arranged a meeting between her and the police at the place she identified.

Many items of interest were recovered during a thorough search, but later disproved.

She was also dismissed, as were all with claimed psychic abilities, as being an unreliable source.

Last week we stood at the same place she led us to, at Blythedale beach, where forensic teams were excavating for the bones of the victims after receiving new evidence.

We were there again: not to open old wounds or to grab headlines, but to help six families who have grieved for so long and lived on the tightrope hanging between hope and despair.

Let’s pray the search for closure will soon be over.