JULES HIGH RAPE - LAW MUST TAKE ITS COURSE

This morning I visited Jules High School in Jeppestown in east Johannesburg where a young schoolgirl was allegedly gang-raped.

Examinations seemed to be going fairly normally for the 150 matric candidates, which is important as the school only had a 72% pass rate last year, down from 90% two years previously.

After speaking to various key role-players, including police at the Jeppe station, I would caution against being too quick to cast blame.

According to the Child Justice Act, it would have been incorrect to have immediately arrested the alleged perpetrators, one of whom is 16 years old and the other 14 years old.

It should not be forgotten that the Child Justice Act applies to both alleged child perpetrators and victims.

They should, however, have been immediately suspended by the school pending further investigation.

Another issue is whether the young girl should have been taken first to the police station, or to an appropriate medical facility, which is what happened in this case.

The police feel that it should have first been reported to them, and they would have taken her to be medically examined.

The Child Justice Act is a new law, so we need to learn from this experience and provide clear guidelines for schools so the rights of all parties are protected in terms of this law.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom, MPL, DA Constituency Head, Johannesburg East, November 9 2010

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