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- The Department of Justice is in the process of procuring 100 anatomically detailed dolls for use in sexual offences courts.
- The dolls are made available to help children and people with mental disabilities to report sex crimes.
- The demonstrations can be used as evidence in cases.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional
Development is in the process of procuring 100 sets of anatomically detailed
dolls for use in sexual offences courts to help children and people with mental
disabilities report sex crimes.
This is according to department spokesperson Steve Mahlangu who said every sexual offences court in the country was legally required to have at least one set of dolls available.
"In many instances, children or persons with mental disabilities lack the ability to articulate sexual acts allegedly perpetrated against them.
"They often use child semantics to identify sexual organs or express a particular sexual act," added Mahlangu.
"Our law therefore permits such witnesses to demonstrate to court a sexual experience through the use of dolls."
The demonstrations, which are undertaken in a private room and are facilitated by an intermediary are captured on a dual-view closed circuit television system and can be used as evidence in court.
Mahlangu said regulations required every court to have a set of dolls that represent:- A boy and a girl.
- A father and mother.
- A grandfather and grandmother.
The dolls have explicitly
presented genitalia and are fully clothed when presented to the witness.
Sexual offences courts
Sexual offences courts were re-introduced into South Africa in 2013 to deal exclusively with cases of rape and other sexual crimes.
The courts have special facilities and processes, such as private testifying rooms and trauma debriefing services that are made available.
There are 116 of these courts that are in operation nationwide based on the latest available data from the department.
There have been numerous reports of the number of pending and backlogged cases in these courts over several years.
READ MORE | SAPS says there are more than 17 000 pending sexual offence cases
Mahlangu said all adults must report any knowledge, reasonable belief or suspicion of a sexual offence being committed against a child.
He added any person who failed to do so was liable to a fine or imprisonment.
"This is one way of ensuring that paedophiles and child abusers do not escape the long arm of the law."
