Pretoria-Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias said rape, murder, attempted murder and other serious contact crimes increased in the province by 7.1% during the third quarter last year.
Mawela shared the province’s crime statistics for 1 October and 31 December 2022 on Tuesday.
He said Gauteng contributed 27.1% of crime in the country during the third quarter and the main drivers of these crimes were assault and gender-based violence.
He said between 1 October to 31 December 2022, there was a total of 2 033 rape cases reported at police stations across the province.
This is a 9% increase from the previous year during the same period, 860 cases were against children – a 7.3% decrease.
According data collected, most rape cases occurred at homes and in public spaces.
Meanwhile, attempted sexual offences increase by 26.2%, from 65 cases in 2021 to 82 cases during the same period in 2022.
Johannesburg had the most cases of reported domestic violence, leading with 939 cases with the intent to inflict grievous body harm when compared to other municipalities.
Ekurhuleni had the highest number of reported murders, followed by Johannesburg, Sedibeng, West Rand and Tshwane.
Mawela stated that while he was disappointed to see an increase in all major crimes, it was important to note that this was the first holiday season in two years without lockdown restrictions.
IOL