On Thursday, Women and Men Against Child Abuse hosted a press briefing to announce a major police investigation into allegations of sexual grooming and abuse involving water polo coaches at some of the country’s top schools.
Bernadette Wicks Picture: iStock Almost 40 years after she was brutally gang raped, one woman’s quest for justice has placed her at the centre of a bold new bid to do away with legislation that puts a time cap on suing sexual offenders for damages. Late last year, the woman - identified only as “AR” in court documents - approached the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban with a civil suit against two of six men she says held her in a bedroom and raped and assaulted her for hours on end while she was at a party in late 1981. The other four men,.
Ramaphosa signs in new law that ends time limit to prosecute serious crimes 19 January 2021 - 21:57 Certain sexual offences were prescribed, which meant alleged perpetrators could not be prosecuted after 20 years from the time the alleged offence occurred. But now all sexual offences are excluded from the 20-year time limit. Image: ALON SKUY
President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into a law a bill that will allow for the prosecution of people suspected of having committed sexual offences, irrespective of when the crime occurred.
The Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill lifts the prescription that after a particular period of time a victim cannot institute a civil claim or a criminal prosecution.