Two months after the ‘Frankel Eight’ changed the law to remove the 20-year time limit on prosecutions for sexual assault, the group has set its sights on altering other abuse legislation, notes a Saturday Star report. The eight spent years persuading the justice system to hold billionaire Sydney Frankel accountable for allegedly abusing them when they were children. But Frankel died in 2017, before he could be taken to court.

Having succeeded in changing the Criminal Procedure Act, the civil claim against Frankel, launched in 2015 and in which each sought R5m in damages, ran up against similar legal roadblock – the Prescription Act of 1968 also places a time limit on civil claims.

In a notice of motion to amend the Prescription Act they argue that section 12(4) allows victims of certain sexual offences (such as rape) and trafficking to ignore such time limits, but does not include all acts of sexual assault. The group argues that the section is ‘irrational, arbitrary and unconstitutional’, and needs to be altered. It’s a similar argument used by the group successfully against the Criminal Procedure Act, with the Constitutional Court’s ruling forming a major part of their current argument.

The Centre for Child Law has also joined the application

Full Saturday Star report (subscription needed)