Cape Town - Hout Bay Community Crime Prevention (CCP) officials involved in apprehending one of Ivan Ivanov’s accused killers are frustrated with the number of repeat offenders walking the suburb’s streets.
JJ de Villiers helps run the CCP task force. After four years of attending to emergencies and apprehending criminals in Hout Bay, he has become familiar with residents constantly caught up in investigations and offences.
De Villiers estimates 90% of crimes in the area are committed by repeat offenders, a number he thinks might go down if suspects had a more difficult time obtaining bail.
“I’ve seen people who are arrested for armed robbery be out on bail seven times over,” he said. He believes criminals have a pattern of escalating their crimes as they gain experience.
De Villiers helped catch the man accused of murdering Ivanov, a Ukranian, on a hike in Hout Bay on Saturday. The suspect had been released from jail for a previous offence four days before his arrest for murder.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana added that police had followed up on leads and arrested a second suspect, aged 24, at the Hout Bay harbour in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The bail system in South Africa serves to uphold every citizen’s right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Rather than lock up an accused person before they have been convicted for a crime, the courts can decide to allow suspects to return home with the promise of making future court appearances.
When a suspect is released they give the courts a certain amount of money which will be released back to them if they make all appearances.
De Villiers said loopholes in the system worked in favour of suspected criminals. Because courts were facing enormous case loads and prisons were often overcrowded and under- resourced, bail was a more cost-effective option. He said he saw defendants with huge numbers of past offences released on bail frequently.
Jean Redpath, a researcher at Africa Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR), said courts granting bail to defendants did not happen as often as one might think. From 1998-2001, legislation was passed to significantly restrict access to bail and allow for bail application hearings to be delayed for days at a time.
A study produced by ACJR on “The Socio-Economic Impact of Pretrial Detention in the Western Cape” found 60% of pretrial detainees at Pollsmoor Prison were accused of non-violent, non-serious offences, including immigration offences.
Another study conducted after the 2001 laws went into effect showed 90% of people accused of committing serious offences (such as murder or rape) were denied bail.
Additionally, less than half of the people kept on bail would be convicted during the trial.
Currently, CCP is helping circulate a petition to deny the suspected killer of Ivanov bail.
De Villiers is now working to convince the lawmakers to change policies surrounding repeat offenders.
One suggestion is for courts to notify SAPS and victims when offenders are being released from jail.
@m_wench