THE Constitutional Court has ruled that the media is not allowed to publish the identity of children involved in criminal proceedings even after they turn 18.
However, the top court said if child witnesses, accused and victims gave permission when they turned 18, their identity could be published.
The court also declared Section 154 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Act constitutionally invalid, as it didn’t protect the identity of child victims.
The section only provided protection for child accused and witnesses. The court gave Parliament 24 months to amend the section.
The court case stemmed from the Zephany Nurse kidnapping matter, which was heard in 2016.
The case was brought by the Centre for Child Law, Childline, Nicro, Media Monitoring Africa and Nurse, who was referred to as KL in the court papers.
The respondents were 12 media houses, including Media24.
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The application to prevent the naming of child victims, witnesses and offenders after they turned 18 was first dismissed in the North Gauteng High Court.
The applicants then appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The appeals court ruled that media houses may continue to name children involved in criminal cases after they turn 18. – NEWS24
