Cape Town - More than 900 children were murdered across the country over the last financial year.
This emerged from the latest 2019/2020 annual crime statistics presented by the ministry of police.
While there was no breakdown on provincial figures, stats showed that 943 children were killed, which represents a 7% decrease.
Last year, a presentation by the Department of Social Development gave a long-term overview of child murders in the province.
It showed that between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2018 more than 781 children between the ages of 13 and 17 were killed.
In that same period, 76 children between the ages of 6 and 12, and 128 between the ages of 0 and 5, were killed.
This translated to four children murdered in the Western Cape every week.
This year, despite the lockdown there have already been a number of child murders in the province.
In January, 12-year-old Michaela Williams was murdered, and a man who was out on parole was charged and arrested for the crime.
In February, Hout Bay's Sibusiso Dakuse, 12, was murdered and in the same month, Tazne van Wyk, 8, was found killed, her body left in a stormwater pipe outside Worcester. She had disappeared from her home in Connaught Estate.
Reagan Gertse, 8, was kidnapped, raped and murdered and his body found in Tulbagh where he lived.
According to the figures, 22 070 sexual offences were committed on children and another 17 118 incidents of rape were reported.
Meanwhile, 34 909 incidents of contact crimes committed against women were recorded in the province. Sex crimes against women have increased by 3.7%, rape increased by 4.9% while sexual assault also increased, by 8.7%.
Lucy Jamieson of UCT Children’s Institute said: “What we know from research is that most children and most cases of violence, including sexual violence, do not get reported to the police.
“Research over the years has put that figure as 1 in 9 and 1 in 7 cases being reported to police. The number of cases of abuse and violence that we see in the crime stats is just the tip of the iceberg.”
On the other hand, 185 children were nabbed for murders in the Western Cape, which related to an 8.8% increase when compared to the previous year.
Thembalethu police station in George came in fourth in the country, with 15 cases, up from just one in the previous year.
Weekend Argus