The “Station Strangler” should be given a second chance.
Chairperson of the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF), Norman Jantjies says Norman Afzal Simons served his life sentence and it’s against the law to imprison someone indefinitely. However, he noted that giving him a second chance comes with extreme caution.
Simons is expected to be released on parole on Thursday after serving his life sentence. The Department of Correctional Services has stipulated strict criteria under which Simons would be subjected to after his parole. They include:
- Being placed under house arrest
- Not being to allowed interact with children
- Frequent visits from the Department of Correctional Services
Simons was a teacher from Tafelsig. He was convicted of kidnapping and murdering 10-year-old Elroy van Rooyen. While not convicted for any other crime, he was suspected of being a serial killer after the bodies of 22 boys were found in shallow graves in Mitchells Plain between 1986 and 1994.
Jantjies has also appealed for the department to reopen the other 21 cases where Simons was not found guilty of.
