#CrimeStats: Police have no clues, says mom of Phoenix victim

Raksha Sukku

Raksha Sukku

Published Oct 25, 2017

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Durban - A Phoenix mother wants closure and for police to find the killers of her daughter, Raksha Sukku, who was hacked to death more than a year ago.

Sukku, 32, was one of 38 people murdered in Phoenix between April 2016 and March 31 this year.

She was found with multiple stab wounds in her Palmview home from where two men were apparently seen fleeing, but police have not made any arrests.

Her mother, Thara Sukku, said she went to the Phoenix police station every month to find out if the killers had been caught.

“I want closure. The detective has no clues and lacks confidence. They (the police) assumed it was an inside job,” Thara said.

“They have held our phones since. I asked the detective for the memory card so I could print out pictures, but he would not assist. So many police officers came to the crime scene, but nothing came of it,” she said.

Thara said her daughter was the breadwinner. The family, she said, were struggling financially.

The recent statistics showed decreases in crime, except murder, in the Phoenix policing area.

Umesh Singh, the Phoenix Community Police Forum’s (CPF) chairperson, said the decrease was because of a collective strategy put in place by the police, private security companies and the CPF.

In Phoenix, between April 2015 and March last year and April last year to March this year, murder increased from 34 to 38; car jackings decreased from 68 to 62; theft out of motor vehicles from 505 to 439; theft of motor vehicles, 438 to 323; house robberies, 88 to 74; and burglaries, 151 to 138.

Drug-related arrests increased from 2 653 to 3 224.

A 24-hour command centre, said Singh, had been opened at the Phoenix police station to further decrease crime. He urged residents to be alert at all times when entering or leaving their homes.

The decrease in the Phoenix statistics came as a huge surprise to a private security company which patrols the area.

Glen Naidoo, KZN VIP Unit spokesperson, said people were not reporting crime because they lost faith in the police. He claimed that people were also being turned away at the

station when they wanted to open cases.

Daily News

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