In three of the most serious categories of contact crime - rape, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and aggravated robbery, KZN figures climbed above national averages. And as the province suffered a surge in violence, the same five policing precincts keep coming up with the most number of cases.
Rape
South Africa saw a 1.7% increase in rape this year with 42289 cases, up by 706, while sexual assault increased 4.2 % to 7749. These two categories make up 93.9% of all sex crimes.
KZN saw a 5.4% increase in all sexual crimes with 9809 cases: a 4.6% increase in rapes with 8017 cases and an 8.8% increase in sexual assault with 1367 cases, both well above the national average.
Again this year Inanda tops the precincts with the most number of rape cases with 351, although this is 34 fewer than last year. At number 2 is uMlazi with 335 cases, up 34, and Plessislaer near Pietermaritzburg, at number 5 with 273 cases, up 68. Empangeni and KwaDukuza also feature in the top 30.
Osizweni outside Newcastle also features in the top 30 stations nationally for rape, with Mountain Rise in Pietermaritzburg in the top 30 for sexual assault.
In KZN, 3192 rapes occurred in the residence of the victim or the perpetrator, 1275 occurred in public places while 61 occurred in schools, colleges or even day care centres. There were 11 rapes in prisons, 17 in places selling liquor and 9 in hotels or guest houses.
Assault
Assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (GBH) was down nationally by 2.5% with 166720 cases, 4259 fewer than last year.
However, once again KwaZulu-Natal bucked the trend as the only province to record an increase of 2% or 27418 cases or 16% of the national total. Non-domestic cases accounted for 5153 assaults, while domestic cases accounted for 3745 assaults.
There were 345 cases of bullying at schools, KwaZulu-Natal again leading the way with just less than half of these at 167. Gauteng had 117, the Eastern Cape 22 and North West 20.
KwaZulu-Natal also lead the way with faction fighting (179 of the total 203 cases), mob violence (595 out of 1867) and retaliation or revenge (1141 out of 2674 cases).
In this category of crime, Inanda, uMlazi and Plessislaer all feature in the country’s top 10, with Madedeni, Ntuzuma, KwaDukuza, and Empangeni in the top 30.
When it comes to common assault, KwaZulu-Natal saw a reduction of 5.5% with 1379 cases.
Phoenix registered the second-highest number of cases in the country with 1305, up 212 from last year.
Robberies
When it comes to robberies in KZN, Pinetown came up prominently in the business and residential category.
KZN figures were up 1.3% for robbery - 7183 cases, while aggravated robbery was up 3.2% (22824).
For aggravated robbery, the Pinetown police station was fourth nationally with 1127 robberies, up 153, with Durban Central sixth with 966, down 175, and uMlazi ninth with 934, up 88. Inanda also features.
Robbery at residential premises is up 9.4% in KZN with 4 575 cases.
Residential crime saw the Pinetown station ranked seventh nationally with 172 cases, up 36; uMlazi at No 7 with 163 cases, up 61; KwaDukuza at No16 with 133 cases, down 4; Plessislaer at No 19 with 130 cases, up 34; and Empangeni at No 30 with 111 cases, down 42.
Robbery at non-residential premises saw KZN increase by 0.6% to 3072 cases, less than half of Gauteng's 6989.
Again, the Pinetown station features at No 4 nationally, with 154 cases, an increase of 47.
Most robberies were committed with a firearm - 78% for business robberies, and 58% for domestic robberies. In domestic robberies, in seven cases residents were threatened with toy guns, seven with a sword, 18 with pepper spray, 20 with scissors and 21 with a bolt cutter.
Business robberies were at their peak from 6pm to 9pm, while residential robberies peaked between midnight and 3am, with a high number of cases on Friday and Saturday evenings between 9pm and midnight. Early on Saturday morning shows the highest number, with 945 cases.
The bulk of businesses robbed were general dealers at 407, but also Spaza shops at 328, liquor stores at 321 and supermarkets at 231. Twenty funeral parlours were robbed, along with 23 restaurants and 24 sports facilities.
The Independent on Saturday