Why do women kill? I have often wondered about this – why anyone feels the need to kill another person. I do believe we are all capable of murder under the right circumstances, or rather, the wrong circumstances. But we as a society find it a little bit more acceptable when men murder and shocked when women do.
There are 143,223 convicted prisoners in South Africa, and 3,724 of them are women, so it is safe to say women do kill less than men, but why?
In the book Bloed op Haar Hande by Carla van der Spuy, she creates the impression that today’s female victim is tomorrow’s offender.
The book further explains that:
– Most female offenders come from broken homes.
– Most female offenders are in unhappy and violent intimate relationships.
– Most female offenders choose a life of crime only to survive.
Everyone, even criminals, strives to belong somewhere, to be loved by someone and to be respected, and sometimes, due to circumstances, these women find it in all the wrong places.
One of the cases in the book is about a young girl that killed her foster mom. After years and years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse, the young girl stabbed her mother to death. Another case is about a woman who stabbed her gangster husband, she was abused for years not just by him but by almost all the men in her life.
Violence and murder can never be excused, but there is almost always a reason for it.
In 2007, Ellen Pakkies murdered her 20-year-old son – she had no other choice. Can you imagine a mother having no other choice but to strangle her child, unthinkable? Ellen was known as a loving mother, religious woman, and an upstanding member of her community.
Her son Abie was a tik addict, and according to the clinical psychologist, the stress of a lifetime of abuse had slowly mounted until Ellen reached breaking point. Ellen Pakkies pleaded guilty but was only sentenced to 280 hours of community service. This was an exceptionally sad case.
Now some women kill just because they can, like Rosemary Ndlovu and Marlene Lehnberg, but, generally, women are considered non-violent, nurturing, and caring beings, where men are generally considered more prone to violence.
But remember that when someone is pushed beyond their limits, anything is possible, no matter their gender.
About the author: Monique Botha is a divorced mother of two and has been living on the South Coast for five years. She completed her higher certificate in criminal justice and is in her final year of completing her bachelor’s degree in criminology. She believes in lifelong learning and is proof that one is never too old to make your dreams a reality.
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