COMPARE it to the province’s victory in the fight against serious crime, the opening of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), in Mayville, Durban, on Friday.
Anti-crime agencies in the community, said le laboratory dedicated by the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Dean Mcpherson to the Acting Minister of Police, Prof. Firoz Cachalia, brings back hope in the fight against crime in the province.
Among many other things related to the investigation of the cases, it will be the center that will test the samples of genes specific to the rape cases that happened in the province.
It will be recalled that previously, samples of this type were sent to a center that does the same work in Pretoria. This led to the fact that there were complaints about serious crimes such as rape as it always appeared that the genetic results did not come back for a year. This is said to be due to the fact that this center is doing work that has been brought to other states.
The founder of Durban Neighborwood Watch, which monitors crime in different townships in Durban, Mr. Andile Jali, said the opening of the center is a victory for crime in the province.
“This means that the investigation related to genetic testing in rape cases, is about to stop, this means speedy access to justice for rape victims as well as their families,” said Jali.
He said the matter of trusting the center in Pretoria, was losing hope for the victims as well as their families.
“Someone came and raped, was arrested, they said they saw the victims and their families, he has been released, he is walking freely in the community, it is as if the justice system is working for them.”
He said that when something like this happens, the communities blame the police for failing to do their job when there is nothing they can do to speed up the DNA testing process.
He went on to say that what they are looking at now is the speedy completion of rape cases in court as there is no longer anything that will be an obstacle in the investigation related to genetic testing.
It is a country It recalled several times that happened and attended other cases in different courts in Durban.
In another session that took place at the Durban Magistrate’s Court, a few years ago, there was a case of rape of a woman where the magistrate who hosted it showed great disgust at the long delay in not returning the DNA results.
“I am withdrawing this case for the time being. It has been many months since the DNA results came back. That the South African government is failing to fix the problem of the delay in the DNA results in the laboratory, that is not my problem or that of the suspect,” said the magistrate.
It went on to say that keeping the suspect in custody while waiting for the DNA results, which is unknown when they will be back, is a violation of his rights. For that reason, he released him, and said that the case will be withdrawn, which will be reopened when the results of the genetic test come back.
The same thing happened at the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court, last year, where a teacher from Mtapo High School, in Lindelani, was arrested for raping a student and getting her pregnant. The magistrate immediately let him go without hesitation, saying that it will take a long time for the case to be heard as the results of the DNA test were still awaited, and it is not known when he will return to Pretoria.