Home

Jafta family disappointed with case postponement.

Dean Jafta.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The family of 20-year old Dean Jafta fom Eersterust in Pretoria, has expressed disappointment after the murder case against three men accused of killing him in May last year was postponed.

The Eersterust community is also dissatisfied with the way police handled Dean’s disappearance and murder case. This follows the brief appearance of three men accused of his murder in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Tuesday where the case was postponed to the 24th of January next year.

The remains of Dean Jafta were exhumed last week and handed-over to his family for proper burial last weekend. According to police records, Dean was given a pauper’s burial without police trying to identify him.

Dean’s father, Denzel Jafta says that he is not pleased with the manner in which the case is being handled.

“I’m not happy that it has been postponed again because I think, procedurally, it was flawed from the beginning and now we have to suffer the consequences of the mistakes which the state has made. We are not happy, as you can see the community is fully behind me all the time with regards to answers but yet another two months that we have to wait for investigations that need to be conducted by the state.”

Denzel also urged the police to perform their duty with diligence, saying the Dean Jafta case shows otherwise so far.

“After being traumatised for one year six months without having any closure, let’s not call this closure because this is not closure because there are a lot of things that are still pending. We don’t even know whether we have buried Dean on Saturday because everything was flawed from the beginning. The DNA was never put on the database. Dean’s fingerprints that they could have got from Home Affairs also that was not sufficient enough according to the police. What is happening in this case? I would like to know what is happening. The state has to come up and inform us because all the evidence which they have given us so far was flawed.”

The Chairperson of the Eersterust Ratepayers and Residents Association, Pastor William Jafta (not a relative) has urged lawmakers, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, to re-look at bail laws. The pastor said suspects accused of serious crime should not be released on bail.

“I’m appalled at the work that the police have done. I wouldn’t say they have done even any work because we wouldn’t be here one year and about six months later still in doubt. My experience with this case, like in most cases, the family members who are the victims of this trauma. This horrific incident has been treated as though they were the perpetrators and the perpetrators as victims. So we ask and I’m calling from the President into his cabinet and parliament to relook the laws of giving bail to perpetrators of crime.”

Dean’s mother, Christa Jafta says her son’s death has left her empty and with a broken heart. She says all she wants is justice.

Accused number one, who is out on bail, managed to avert arrest following his late arrival in court.

Watch related video below: 

Author

MOST READ