CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS

On 14 June 2018, the Constitutional Court ruled in an application for the confirmation order of a constitutional invalidity order made by the Johannesburg High Court. The High Court declared section 18 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid insofar as it bars, in all circumstances, the right to institute criminal prosecution for all sexual offences other than rape and compelled rape, after 20 years have lapsed since the commitment of the offence.  

The applicants are adult men and women who were allegedly sexually assaulted by the now late Mr Frankel in 1970 and 1989 when the they were between six and 15 years old. The applicants claim to have suffered physical, emotional and psychological trauma because of the alleged assault. The 20-year prescription period provided for by section 18 of the CPA meant that the alleged offences prescribed between 1999 and 2011. The applicants said that it was only after they fully appreciated the gravity of the criminal acts committed by Frankel (between June 2012 and 2015) that they instituted both civil and criminal action against him. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of Gauteng declined to prosecute, citing the CPA’s prescription period as the reason.