The man accused of raping and murdering his son’s eight-year-old friend during a sleepover last month was a previous offender who “checked himself out” of a state rehabilitation programme 18 years ago.
His victim in that case, now a 38-year-old businesswoman who preferred not to be named, this week told the Sunday Times no-one had informed her that the man, who had allegedly spiked her drink and then raped her, had absconded or she’d have “fought for justice”.
The 47-year-old suspect was not only allowed to slip through the cracks of the justice system, but spent five years as a member of one of Cape Town’s biggest neighbourhood watches. Instead, he should have had a criminal record stemming from the incident in 2005.
In 2007, he absconded from a state criminal “diversion programme” after admitting to raping the woman. The alleged attack took place in Kraaifontein, the same area where he allegedly raped and murdered eight-year-old Daniël Jamneck on June 15.
He was also accused of sexually assaulting two cousins, aged seven and eight, and may have absconded from the programme to avoid further suspicion.
While the psychologist who ran the programme the man absconded from confirmed to the Sunday Times the alleged rapist and killer was referred to her by a local social services agency, she was led to believe the victim “did not want to pursue the charges, so everybody’s hands were tied”.
She has written to the Western Cape director of public prosecutions to ask that her case be reopened.
This week, she said she thought she had put her rape ordeal behind her. But 18 years later — after she had married and raised three sons — she had to relive the nightmare after learning her attacker had been arrested for Daniël’s rape and murder.
Daniël was a friend of the alleged rapist’s 12-year-old son and was at a sleepover when he was allegedly murdered in the man’s bed in his rented granny flat in Kraaifontein, Cape Town.
The woman said she was shocked “because nobody wanted to believe me”. She said the man invited her and her friends to a dance club in Stikland in 2005 when the alleged rape took place. She alleged the man was “obsessed with me but I never dated him”.
“He bought a drink from the bar and gave it to my sister to bring to the table. Obviously, he knew I wasn’t going to take a drink from him,” she said. “After that, I didn’t feel good. I walked out of the front door and had some fresh air. [He] then offered to take me home but he drove past my house. The next morning, I woke up [at his uncle’s house] and knew instantly that something wasn’t right.”
She said she had an “excruciating headache” and when she got home, a friend drove her to the Kraaifontein police station to lay charges.
“I was still reporting my case when he walked in and admitted [to it],” she said, adding he was arrested but soon released on bail. The case dragged on.
Two years later, when she was pregnant with her first child, she said, his lawyer intimidated her into agreeing to a plea deal that would see him signed onto the diversion programme he would later abscond from.
“His lawyer told me, ‘We have to sort this out today otherwise he will walk free and you will get no justice. They are going to rip you apart in court’. He just kept saying, ‘If you want any form of justice accept this plea deal. He will be punished, and he will have a criminal record. He has to go for counselling for three years.’
“When they put that offer on the table, I took it. I wanted to move on. It took me nearly 10 years to get my life back. Nobody offered me counselling.”
The man, however, only attended four sessions of the three-year diversion programme that the Bluedowns magistrate’s court sent him on in 2007. Court documents show that undertakings were made that the charges would be reinstated if he failed to complete the programme — but they weren’t.
That he absconded only came to light this week during his bail application — in the same court — in Daniël’s murder case. The court heard gruesome details of injuries to Daniël’s private parts and evidence of strangulation.
Prosecutor Rudolph Olivier undertook to investigate what happened after the man left the programme.
A court diary entry on June 6 2007, the day the man was placed on the programme, reads: “The accused has been referred to the Catts Programme in Kenilworth which has a sexual offender rehabilitation which he will have to attend for three years. This decision was taken after consultation and in light of the merits of this case. The complainant has been informed accordingly.
“If the accused fails to attend this case will be reopened. Dr Marcel Londt will keep me posted as to the progress of the accused.”
Londt confirmed this week that the man was placed on the programme “by the local social work agency in Kraaifontein”, but for the lesser charge of attempted rape “against a 19-year-old female” to which he admitted.
“He only attended three or four sessions and disappeared when confronted with the suspicion that there were also two seven- or eight-year-old cousins [girls] in addition to the withdrawn attempted rape charges,” she said.
“The social work agency in Kraaifontein was notified during early 2008 when [the man] went missing,” Londt said. It is unclear which agency it was and what happened next.
Londt added: “The Catts programme is not suited for those individuals who appear to remain committed to a career as a dangerous sexual predator. Concerns were also raised that he took employment as a courier which escalated risks for future victims. At the time he was 32 years of age.”
The 38-year-old businesswoman said it took Daniël’s death for her to finally be believed.
“Now I know I was right. The state could have believed me and followed up on the diversion programme,” she said.
“Do you want to tell me there have been no other victims in the past 18 years? I want my case reopened and I want those people held accountable for letting him go. I want to add as many days as possible to his sentence. This will bring true justice to me for the way the accused abused me.”
National Prosecuting Authority Western Cape spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed receipt of the woman’s letter and that it was “being attended to”.
The man will reappear in court on August 14.
You need to do a very, very good assessment on the person before you recommend that they are diverted... If it is someone who is a risk to the community with repeat offences, we would not recommend that such a person be sent for diversion
— Betzi Pierce, CEO, Nicro
Criminal law expert William Booth said if the man did not “complete the diversion programme, then the state has the full right to reinstitute the prosecution”.
“A diversion programme has to be monitored. There had to be a report at the end of the programme that he has completed it. If that doesn’t arrive it has to be reported to the prosecution and they have to take the necessary action.”
Because the man had no criminal record, he was an active member of one of Cape Town’s largest neighbourhood watches between 2016 and 2021. The neighbourhood watch confirmed there was “no charge pending or crime of any nature apparent on the criminal record check, this includes no rape conviction”.
Justice minister Ronald Lamola’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, referred the Sunday Times to the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (Nicro) which conducts diversion programmes. However, its CEO Betzi Pierce said the organisation would not recommend a rape suspect for one.
“Diversion programmes are meant to divert people with lesser offences or with big mitigating circumstances from the court system,” she said.
“But you need to do a very, very good assessment on the person before you recommend that they are diverted. That is what Nicro does. Part of the assessment includes establishing their risk profile. If it is someone who is a risk to the community with repeat offences, we would not recommend that such a person be sent for diversion.”
Pierce said diversion was a “prosecutorial discretion”.
“Should we find that someone has absconded, we will immediately notify the court and such a person will be rearrested and go through the court system,” she said.
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