Thursday, June 01, 2006
A time to kill...
A local newspaper, Beeld, ran an article today about the rape of a Belgian exchange student at a street party in Soweto on 13 August 2005. The article is available in English and Afrikaans.
Besides wondering what the hell a FOREIGN (hence exotic) beautiful white, blonde girl was doing at a street party in a township where many locals dare not tread, the article evoked a number of angry responses in me.
Two of the rapists (or more legally-correct 'defendants') pretend to be all helpful, showing her to a bathroom. Once she's finished, they grab her as she comes out and drag her to a house, where she begs and pleads with them to just take her valuables. And when she tries to discourage them from forcing themselves on her by explaining that she's a virgin, they only seemed to get more excited.
For those who don't know, I'm Christian, and the desire to see these four men dead (nay -- to execute them myself) is a powerful one. I can hear some of the more 'rational' of you out there right now: How can I be so brazen when these men have not been found guilty yet? The media often paint things to look a certain way -- we all know that.
Quite simply, I find it highly unlikely that a foreign exchange student will have consensual sex with a man she meets at a township street party. I find it even more unlikely that she'll do so with at least four other men in the room. And lastly, the police walked in during the third rape, quite literally, catching one of the men with his pants down (with the other 4 watching). And when the cops arrived, two of the men ran away. Not guilty? Try another one.
Then, just to ice the cake (pardon the clichés), this happened on 13 August 2005 and the trial continues TOMORROW (2 June 2006).
What could POSSIBLY be taking so long? They have police eye-witnesses, all the suspects in custody... Put these punks away so that THEY can get gang-raped in a nice, cozy, overfull prison cell.
Perhaps one day, God'll bring me to a place where I have the mercy in me to pray for these men's souls and for his peace and Love on the victim, but right now, I'd like for nothing more than to torture these men publicly...
Besides wondering what the hell a FOREIGN (hence exotic) beautiful white, blonde girl was doing at a street party in a township where many locals dare not tread, the article evoked a number of angry responses in me.
Two of the rapists (or more legally-correct 'defendants') pretend to be all helpful, showing her to a bathroom. Once she's finished, they grab her as she comes out and drag her to a house, where she begs and pleads with them to just take her valuables. And when she tries to discourage them from forcing themselves on her by explaining that she's a virgin, they only seemed to get more excited.
For those who don't know, I'm Christian, and the desire to see these four men dead (nay -- to execute them myself) is a powerful one. I can hear some of the more 'rational' of you out there right now: How can I be so brazen when these men have not been found guilty yet? The media often paint things to look a certain way -- we all know that.
Quite simply, I find it highly unlikely that a foreign exchange student will have consensual sex with a man she meets at a township street party. I find it even more unlikely that she'll do so with at least four other men in the room. And lastly, the police walked in during the third rape, quite literally, catching one of the men with his pants down (with the other 4 watching). And when the cops arrived, two of the men ran away. Not guilty? Try another one.
Then, just to ice the cake (pardon the clichés), this happened on 13 August 2005 and the trial continues TOMORROW (2 June 2006).
What could POSSIBLY be taking so long? They have police eye-witnesses, all the suspects in custody... Put these punks away so that THEY can get gang-raped in a nice, cozy, overfull prison cell.
Perhaps one day, God'll bring me to a place where I have the mercy in me to pray for these men's souls and for his peace and Love on the victim, but right now, I'd like for nothing more than to torture these men publicly...
