Justice dept sends right message to criminals

THIS week’s sentencing of Oscar Pistorius for the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp has drawn starkly contrasting responses from the public.
There’s bound to be no such disparity in opinions about the sentencing of two rapists who violated a woman who had been walking home with her brother in St Winifreds in 2013.
It was DNA evidence and the police’s investigative work that secured the conviction. However, the 20 year sentence – which seems severe at face value, especially in light of the Oscar verdict – resulted from the victim’s emotive statement to the court.
Terming her ordeal as “violating, degrading, disrespectful and embarrassing”, her appeal to the court was heard and heeded, and she effectively ensured that the duo will remain behind bars for two decades.
The sentence is good for several reasons, not the least of which is that rape is a heinous, barbaric act that deserves the strongest punishment. It will also go a long way towards dispelling the misperception that the justice department deems our jails to be too full and thus bears this in mind in sentencing criminals.
It’s high time that South Africans have reason to hail the country’s criminal justice system for dealing effectively and harshly with criminals, especially those who perpetuate crimes against women. The Steenkamps in the Oscar case – much like the rape victim and her family in the St Winifreds case – will surely welcome the fact that the respective criminals will be locked away from society to reflect on their actions.