Habitual criminal gets 8 years thanks to community efforts

A habitual local criminal has been sentenced to 8 years in jail thanks to actions by St Francis community members in working hard to combat crime.

According to Trudi Malan of the Cape St Francis Civics Association, the communities of Cape St Francis, Sea Vista, Zwelitsha and St Francis Bay recently struck a blow against crime when they acted to ensure that Andrew de Lange, also known as Outa, was put behind bars for a long time.

Outa, who is notorious in the community for his many altercations with the law, was on 3 October 2012 sentenced in the Humansdorp Regional Court to serve the jail term without an option of parole. His many transgressions include theft, housebreaking, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm and several drug related arrests. 

“Excellent work by the South African Police Service combined with a high level of co operation from local security firms ensured the culprit was apprehended several times,” Malan says.  “However, he was (always) released soon thereafter.  The community was of the opinion that after serving seemingly short sentences, Outa’s repeated returns to the area coincided with immediate increases in incidents of housebreaking, theft and threats against members of the community.

“The St Francis community made use of the local Police Community Forum to bring this problem to the attention of the relevant prosecuting authorities. 

“St Francis is a sought after holiday destination and therefore it often occurs that holiday home owners who have experienced a break in are unavailable to act as witnesses when the cases are brought before the courts,” Malan points out.

The first step for the community was therefore to raise funds to ensure travel and accommodation costs of witnesses, who had to travel from afar to give evidence, were covered. The Cape St Francis Civic Association realised the importance of this and it made a massive contribution to the fund, thus ensuring that a witness could travel from KwaZulu/Natal to give necessary evidence in court.

To further strengthen its case the St Francis community launched a petition in which it requested the accused be tried in the Regional Court and that consideration be given to declare the accused a habitual criminal. 

“The community realised the prosecution of an offender is just as important as the apprehension of the criminal. Courts find it difficult to sentence an offender if there is no one willing to give evidence in the case.

“This community will stand together and will not let crime get the upper hand,” Malan says.

She adds that accolades must go to: The Cape St Francis Civic Association that made an enormous contribution to the travel and accommodation costs, even though the crime happened in St Francis Bay; the Cape St Francis Sector of the Police Community Forum for driving the project; the Community Police Forum; and the local security companies.

– Issued by Community Police Forum

(edited)

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