Convicted child killer and notorious “Station strangler” Norman Afzal Simons is being released from prison on Thursday after spending 28 years in jail for the kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Elroy van Rooyen in 1994.
Simons will be under house arrest for the rest of his life, and will be staying with his cousin in Parow – a decision that has residents up in arms.
A community dialogue concerning his residency in Parow went south on Tuesday night, when residents staged a walk-out in protest of regional Department of Correctional Services (DCS) Commissioner Delekile Klaas’s remarks that “any of you can be a rapist”.
Klaas then went on to say that Simons “will be released” and that the dialogue is not about “asking for permission” from the residents.
A member of the Parow Community Police Forum (CPF) and the chairperson of the Neighbourhood Watch, Stephan Carstens, who spoke to the Cape Times in his capacity as a resident, said they were up in arms over the decision to “move” Simons to Parow.
“It has caused a ruckus. From the dialogue, it was fairly obvious that the community is up in arms.
“A number of people are unimpressed by how it was done by (DCS), we were not informed, and were not part of the consultation process.
“The tone of the meeting took a different turn when the commissioner said the things he said. We expected a consultation and not to be told like that – that it’s final and we can’t change it,” Carstens said.
“We have had a case of Tazne van Wyk who was killed by a parolee in our midst in and around the same Parow area. We don’t have faith in the government and the justice system.
We have lots of schools in our area. “They spoke about rehabilitation but not the extent of his rehabilitation, there weren’t kids in there, he was incarcerated with adults, yet his weakness is seemingly young children, and they now say he has been rehabilitated, we have zero faith in the rehabilitation.
“The meeting was perceived as a dialogue, but it was just an information session. They were not interested in our views and what we had to say.
“They even dropped another bombshell that we live among 22 parolees, with seven being ‘high risk’ and we weren’t even aware of this.”
Responding to questions by the Cape Times on Wednesday, Klaas said there was context behind his words.
“The purpose of the dialogue was not to change a decision taken to release the offender. The intention was to inform the community about the imminent release of the parole.
“On the question of my remarks, I was saying it is not possible for anybody to predict human behaviour. That was the context,” he said.
Director child rights organisation Molo Songololo, Patric Solomons, said the community should be given a chance to object because Simons will live among them and their children.
“Minimum effort was done in this case. The residents might have valid concerns.Their thinking is that of parents, any parent is protective of their children, so it is understandable to have these concerns.
“This case is a very high profiled case and there should have been proper engagements.”
“Child protection is a community responsibility. It’s unfortunate that the system is mostly reactionary,” he said.
Cape Times