36/1/4/1/201100214
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 2857
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 23 SEPTEMBER 2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 30- 2011)
Date reply submitted: 25 October 2011
2857. Mr J Selfe (DA) to ask the Minister of Police:
Whether police officers open inquest dockets instead of murder dockets; if
so, (a) what is the reason for this and (b) how many (i) inquest dockets
and (ii) murder dockets have been opened in each province from 1 April 2011
up to the latest specified date for which information is available?
NW3325E
REPLY:
No.
a) There are many reasons why inquest case dockets instead of murder case
dockets are registered, of which the most common reasons are:
- A body is found with no obvious injuries or wounds and without any
history being available to the police officers at the scene. An
inquest case docket is registered, but later, during the autopsy, it
is discovered that the deceased sustained internal injuries, and later
during the investigation it is further established that the deceased
was assaulted. The inquest case docket is then changed to a murder
case docket.
- A decomposed body is found and it cannot be established on the
scene that there are injuries on the body. During the autopsy, it is
discovered that the deceased died of a gunshot wound. The inquest
case docket is then changed to a murder case docket.
- A person dies without a history of any illness, but later,
after toxicology and histology analysis of the body specimens obtained
during an autopsy, it is established that the deceased was poisoned.
The inquest case docket is then changed to a murder case docket.
b) The number of inquest and murder cases from the 1 April 2011 shall only
be released by the Minister of Police as part of crime
statistics for 2011/2012 in September 2012.
Reply to question 2857 approved by the Minister