The Scarf Case or Serpie Fonds

Women And Men Against Child Abuse would like to thank John Robbie and his production team, Radio 702 for giving us time to tell the following story publically.

We would also like to thank listeners of the John Robbie show who sent letters of support and financial assistance for this child.

As a result of the first interview we did with John:

• WMACA has raised  enough money for the reconstruction surgery and therapy required by this child
• Listeners working for the National Prosecuting Authority responded and have initiated investigations
• A reconstruction surgeon responded and has this last Monday seen the child and is preparing to operate in her next school holidays
• The SABC, Gillian Pillay ran the story on national news

Lande Willemse wrote and published this story in the Lowveld Media and a Nelspruit resident posted the story onto our website and asked us to assist.

We will keep you posted of all developments of this case as we see it as an iconic example of how our justice system too often fails and violates the rights of child rape victims.

This case has become known as the Scarf Case (or the Serpie Fonds), namedby the Nelspruit women who have initiated the printing and manufacture of scarves to be sold to the public to raise funds for this child and future children in need and to be worn in solidarity with children while in the court process.

The Scarf case:  

6 December 2008: 7-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister sleep over at friend’s house

 Friend’s uncle (Francois Steynberg 30) lives with them (brother and sister-in-law)

Approximately 00:15 he attacks sister-in-law with scissors and shallow cut to breast, security company responds but victim don’t want Steynberg arrested

Approximately 2 hours later sister-in-law checks on children and found 7-year-old friend missing from bed

Finds the child in Steynberg’s room, throat cut open from side to side, bleeding and naked on his bed

Sends the child’s older sister to call their mother who lives on same smallholding in different house

Young victim was taken from her bed, head bashed against wall, beaten with fist in face, throttled, raped and throat cut with pair of scissors

Steynberg was also naked and his pubic hair found on her private areas

He claimed a TV-game Deuce Edge, spoke to him and said he must kill people

The older sister meanwhile ran to her mother shouting “mommy please help, my sister’s neck is open! My sister’s neck is open!!” She was traumatized as she saw her badly mutilated and bleeding younger sister

Steynberg arrested, child rushed to hospital where emergency operation saves her life but leave vivid visible scar around her neck (her trachea was visible!!!!)

Steynberg claims insanity, sent to Weskoppies for evaluation, they send him back after few weeks and say nothing wrong with him

Steynberg’s brother cleans up the room and scissors suddenly missing, but luckily I know the dog unit’s blood-and-semen dog handler. Phoned him and he managed to find at least five spots of blood in the room, that matches victim’s DNA. Also found her blood on Steynberg’s shoes that were hidden under bed

Since then case dragging and dragging!!!!

Steynberg gets bail after he claims his grandmother so ill that she might be dying (same grandmother who attends every court case, epitome of health, and who pays his legal bills)

Victim sees her attacker every time in the corridors of the court!!!!!!!

She once got so emotional that she screamed at her mother to take her away

No-one can with clarity say to me why the case is dragging….

Steynberg’s defence attorney, Coert Jordaan, is using delaying tactics

Police reports / investigations were finished barely six months after incident, so case could have started then

At last court appearance there was apparently a problem with the intermediary, and the availability of the magistrate

Presiding magistrate ignored state prosecutor’s pleas that the case receives high priority as “old case involving child”

Magistrate simply said defence and prosecutor must find date amongst themselves

Defence Jordaan refused flat out to make date available before next year August, claiming his dairy is too full, that he will not be squeezed in, and that his client has as much rights as the child and that he also suffers as the child

Date was eventually set for March 5 2012, that means another 8 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jordaan has phoned the journalist and screamed intimidatingly at her over the phone about reporting on this case!! Can you believe??

  Child in meantime not allowed therapy until case finalizes – She suffers badly

Teacher said her school work has gone backwards badly and that she will probably fail this year

She gets teased at school about the large scar around her neck

 Older child as traumatized

Mom very poor and even works at night selling roses to look after her children

 Dad committed suicide few months before the attack

Little girl did not believe her father is gone until he did not come for her that night, that is apparently when she knew her father is dead

The perpetrator is accussed of:

Assault GBH on his sister-in-law, attempted murder, rape

We want:

* Minimum life sentence (rape is minimum life sentence)

* Another minimum life sentence (assault GBH is life sentence)

* Public awareness that the case is being dragged out for no valid reason; and not just this case but all other cases re children not being helped by our so-called fantastic justice system

* The family desperately needs funds for therapy after case finalized, and for medical intervention that this child needs to heal, emotionally and physically

* Coert Jordaan investigated

WMACA’s views:

This case contravenes and is in violation of Chapter 28 of our Constitution and Ch 9 of the Childrens Act – whereby the best interests of the child must be the priority by all concerned and at all times and especially during court processes. 

1.            Postponements -it is not in the best interests of the child to have had this case postponed over and over again

2.            The postponements in this case are a mixture of the delaying tactics of the defence council and state inefficiencies – at one of the hearings the intermediary was not available and at another the presiding officer was not available

Police reports / investigations were finished barely six months after incident, so case could have started then

3.            Restriction on therapy is not prescribed in any of our laws – but it comes from a specific train of thought that really makes no sense at all. In this case, the SAPS Social Worker made the decision to restrict the child access to therapy.

WMACA would like to know on what grounds was this decision made. It makes no sense –the best interests of the child must be the priority at all times and especially during court

It makes no sense to expect a traumatised child to be able to endure the secondary trauma of the court process – and being in the presence of the perpetrator -  the state requires the victim to give exact details of the incident/rape but a highly traumatised child requires therapy and court preparation to be able to testify as effectively as possible. 

This child and her family have needed therapy for serious trauma since the  incident and the childs father committed sucide a few days prior to the rape – Therapy –  is the only way this child will heal and be able to regain her normal developmental progress – her healing is not reliant on the outcome of this case.

Usually in therapy, it’s the external factors that victims and therapists deal with – by ex factors I mean the consequences of what has happened and how to deal with these issues not the actual events of the crime and what happened. How can this jeopardise a child’s testimony – one thing we are all sure of children do not lie or fabricate events unless of course they are intimidated or groomed to do so.

As a victim you are subpoenaed by the state as an agent for the state to keep the perpetrator behind bars to protect society from him or her reoffending. However, the states interest cannot supersede the interests of the child. In this case it has.

Read more about the press release: Justice Should Not Be A Joke