Murder, rape, assault and other serious crimes decrease during lockdown: Bheki Cele

Murder, rape, assault, hijackings and robbery cases have dropped significantly during the nationwide lockdown, police minister Bheki Cele said on Sunday.

This was partly because of the prohibition of the sale of liquor during the 21-day lockdown that started last Friday.

“Murder cases dropped from 326 to 94; rape cases dropped from 699 to 101; cases of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm dropped from 2,673 to 456; and trio crimes dropped from 8,853 to 2,098,” Cele said in a statement.

Hijackings and business and house robberies are collectively grouped as “trio crimes”.

But gender-based violence complaints remained high.

“Over 2,300 calls/complaints have been registered since the beginning of the lockdown on  March 27 2020 until March 31 2020 and from these, 148 suspects were charged.

“The figure in relation to calls/complaints between January 2020 and March 31 2020 stands at 15,924. Once all reports have been consolidated, the figures will be measured against the number of calls/complaints received through the GBV Command Centre in 2019, where the figure stands at 87,920,” he said.