Court escapes a major concern

APPREHENDING crime suspects is not easy.

Information is gleaned, often through informers, and followed up; fingerprints and other evidence is gathered and examined; an arrest is made and a case is prepared.

The investigating officer as well as the prosecuting authority prepares well to obtain a successful prosecution in court, culminating in a jail sentence that will rid the public of a danger to society.

How disconcerting it is, then, to hear of two on-trial suspects escaping from the Richards Bay court precinct in less than a week – one of them a rape suspect.

The fact that the latter was immediately stopped in his tracks thanks to the bullet of an alert policeman on court duty, and the other (who was armed with a handgun) was arrested within days by another committed police member, does little to appease the public’s fears.

What if civilians or court officials had been caught in the crossfire?

What if the escapees had succeeded and were back on the streets to commit more crimes?

There are some major issues of concern.

In the first place is the question of whether there are enough police members present at the courts.

Apparently not, if the general problem of staff shortages that prevails at most police stations is taken into account.

The way the system works is that police are seconded to court duty from the stations where suspects are being held.

Few stations can afford to release enough members from their normal duties to be present at the courts.

Since suspects are presumed innocent until proved guilty, they may not appear in the dock handcuffed or restrained, which gives them the opportunity to make a run for it.

They could, of course, head for any of the court officials with violent, criminal intent.

The same applies to spectators in the public gallery (some may be crime associates of the suspects), who may be carrying arms that avoided detection.

As hospitals are filled of sick people, so criminals file through the courts every day, and those who work there deserve to be protected.

The proposed new magistrate’s court building at Richards Bay, which will presumably be built to the highest specifications, needs to be given priority status.