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| Two of the Frankel 8 |
In a year in which public life has sunk so low, only a few beacons stand out. There have been some protests which served to lift our spirits temporarily, but in the end seemed to have very little effect. And then there has been the
court case brought by the Frankel Eight, over 30 years after their alleged
abuse as children, which provided a landmark ruling and which will have significant consequences for survivors of sexual abuse in South Africa both now and in the future.
The proscription period of 20 years for charges of sexual abuse has been ruled unconstitutional by the High Court! If this judgement is confirmed in the Constitutional Court it will open the way to a change in the law.
Countries vary with regard to the proscription period or statute of limitations as it is sometimes called. For example, Canada and the UK have no time limitation for cases of child sexual abuse; whereas the US, Europe and Australia do.
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| Miranda Friedmann |
Miranda Friedmann (From Women and Men Against Child Abuse) laid out in a
recent radio interview how events in the life of a survivor may contribute to "late disclosure" and their only be ready to lay charges against a paedophile abuser after 30 or 40 years (
as is the case with the Frankel 8). This happens for survivors who actually remember being assaulted. How much more likely is late disclosure when a survivor discovers in therapy that they have unknowingly dissociated an experience of assault, which then became occluded from their consciousness for many years. This is not an unusual occurrence in my 40 years of practicing psychotherapy.
If I think back to the patients for whom this was true, very few of them would have brought a case against their abuser anyway. However, the realization that one could, and what that would be like would certainly add a component of empowerment to the healing process. As an example, I know of one person, assaulted countless times by Catholic priests over thirty years ago, who, in trying to bring a case, has been met with delaying tactics, helplessness, inaction, derision and ridicule. He is now hugely encouraged by this ruling.
I was abused by anti-Semitic nuns while in St. Joseph's Hospital (now the Vincent Palotti), Pinelands
Cape Town in 1945 or 46. Since the High Court ruling I have had a few wonderful peer counselling sessions, imagining bringing a court case against a couple of dead Palatine nuns and a hospital that no longer exists! I can afford to be lighthearted about this now - I have had the benefit of hundreds of hours of attention over several decades for what happened to me in just a few days. For incest survivors and victims of paedophiles, for whom the abuse can extend over years, and for whom the effects are so long lasting and damaging, this ruling is a big milestone in their journey of recovery whether or not they choose to take legal action.
