The daughter and niece of a rapist who was released on medical parole without their knowledge after serving less than two years of his 10-year sentence are determined to send him back to jail.
The man, 77, was sentenced in December 2021 in the Durban regional court for the rape and indecent assault of his daughter when she was aged between five and 11, and for the sexual assault of his niece (and the girl's cousin) when she was three years old in the late 1970s.
The man cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims.
The case was one of the country's first historical convictions in a sexual assault matter. At the time, magistrate Queen Khuzwayo ordered that the sentences not run concurrently and the rapist be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence.
Khuzwayo also ruled that no consideration of parole could be given without prior consultation with his two victims. But in October 2023 — less that two years after the sentencing — his niece was stunned when she spotted him at the home affairs offices in Chatsworth, south of Durban. “At first I thought I was seeing things. I asked someone to check for me and he openly said yes he had been incarcerated and he is out on parole. That’s when we knew it was him,” she said.
Mentally I was not prepared to bump into him. I felt whoever released him without informing us disregarded our safety, our mental health and our wellbeing
— Woman raped by her uncle
“I had to be escorted out of the building because I was so scared. I was horrified. A lot of emotions at the same time. I was angry, disgusted. I felt the justice system failed us because we didn’t even get a notice to say he was going to be out, which meant we were moving in the same circles. Mentally I was not prepared to bump into him. I felt whoever released him without informing us disregarded our safety, our mental health and our wellbeing.”
She contacted her cousin who lives in Gauteng and, after making inquiries, they found out from the correctional services department that the man had been released on medical parole on October 16 2023. The women sought legal advice and found he had been released into the care of her younger sister in Johannesburg because he was allegedly terminally ill and suffered memory loss.
In February last year, she submitted a detailed grievance, including court transcripts, the charge and sentencing sheet and the two women's comments to then justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola’s office, questioning the “illegal release”.
Among the concerns raised was that the man was not in Johannesburg but in Durban. They also highlighted that the family member in Johannesburg lived close to a preschool yet was on the national sex offenders list.
The daughter said that in December 2023 they had filed an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to obtain information from the department regarding the release, but the department didn't respond.
“Nothing was done. No feedback at all. I had verbal confirmation that it had all been received. We were told he was released because he was terminally ill and I heard from his family that he did not have much time to live. All we were told was that he was dying of ‘memory loss’.”
That was over a year ago, now he is “enjoying” his life.
“I have since then seen pictures of him on social media, heard from people who have seen him in public. In these pictures he is having lots of fun, going out and about, cooking food in huge pots on a fire, just living large. He was seen driving around.”
After the May 2024 general elections, the two women resubmitted their letter to the new correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald in July and received a “positive” response in December.
The department of correctional services’ (DCS) chief of staff Pieter Kilian confirmed Groenewald had “decided to refer the decision to release [name of offender] on medical parole for review to the parole review board”.
Kilian told the Sunday Times a decision was imminent.
While University of KwaZulu-Natal criminology and forensic studies expert Prof Nirmala Gopal is not optimistic the decision will be reversed, she believes the victims were “further violated” by the DCS. “I believe the likelihood of them having the decision overturned is relatively low. This is primarily because it would require the DCS to acknowledge that they made a mistake.
“Such an admission could be seen as damaging to their reputation, as it would raise questions about the integrity and effectiveness of their processes. It is profoundly troubling and disheartening that a process — which not only affects the life of the victim of this perpetrator but also holds significant implications for all women who suffer from violence and sexual assault — can be handled with such negligence by the DCS.
“The DCS's failure to respond to one of the victim's inquiries regarding excluding her and her cousin from the decision-making process is not just an oversight —it casts a long shadow over the credibility and integrity of DCS's processes.”
The parolee did not respond to specific queries from the Sunday Times. However, he said he had been released due to “a serious heart condition”, adding: “I’m dying. You can see that I’m not well. If someone wants to know why I was released, they must ask Westville Prison, not me.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.