As the country observes Women’s Month, the South African Police Service (SAPS) is celebrating the specialised units and teams who go above and beyond the call of duty to protect women, children, and other vulnerable groups.
Today, the spotlight is on the Port Alfred Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit in the Eastern Cape.
Since August 2024 to date, the investigators have collectively placed 39 sexual offenders behind bars with five life terms sentences and an additional 382 years’ imprisonment.
Constable Sandra Catherine is one of the investigators attached to the Port Alfred FCS unit, with a conviction rate of 78.57% for 2024/2025 financial year.
She is responsible for investigating serial rape cases, including sexual cases against children across Eastern Cape.
Her thorough investigation and high work ethic secured two life terms and an additional 25 years’ imprisonment that was imposed against the convicted serial rapist, Nkosikona Sandi (28), in the Makhanda High Court on 30 May 2025.
Sandi, infamously known as the Nemato Serial Rapist, was convicted on multiple counts of rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Catherine’s investigation led her to link Sandi with the DNA evidence to a broader pattern of violent criminal conduct, including several rapes and aggravated robberies spanning from 2016 to 2019 in Nemato Township, Port Alfred.
Her high moral standing and immeasurable desire to serve and protect vulnerable groups, especially women and children, serve as an inspiration to Catherine’s colleagues, victims of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), and the greater community of Ndlambe.
“I have a passion to seek justice for victims of gender-based violence and femicide, and to protect vulnerable members of society as well as ensure that those who commit crimes against them are brought to justice,” the Constable said.
“I will always be the voice to the voiceless and pillar for those who need it. I hope that this sentence will bring comfort and a certain degree of closure to the survivors, families, as well as the communities,” she said.
Furthermore, Unit Commander Captain Candice du Preez emphasised that the Port Alfred FCS unit continues to demonstrate unwavering commitment to fight for justice for victims of GBVF and to put behind bars individuals who commit heinous crime against vulnerable group, especially women, children and people underscore the critical work of this team.
“To secure lengthy sentences against perpetrators of GBVF, it takes hard work, dedication, teamwork, and working long hours piecing evidence together as well as to present watertight cases before the court of law. I am so proud to be a commander of this unit,” said du Preez. – SAnews.gov.za
