Pretoria – The number of murders increased by 800 in the past financial year, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega said on Friday.

Murder had gone up by 5% and attempted murder by 4.6%, said Phiyega, announcing the 2013/2014 crime statistics in Pretoria.

Assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm increased by 1.5% and robbery with aggravated circumstances was up by 12.7%.

Common assault was down by 3.3% and sexual offences decreased by 5.6%, with rape and sexual assault dropping.

“We are not going to rest. We will continue putting effort into these areas,” she said.

Bank robberies decreased by 77.4% over a five-year period, but increased from seven incidents in 2012/13 to 21 in 2013/14.

That is a 200% increase.

The robbery of cash-in-transit vehicles stabilised at 145 incidents, this year compared to last year.

Common robbery went up by 0.6%.

Drug-related crimes increased by 26.1% in the past financial year.

– SAPA