Justices fire back

The hard hitting report released by the Gender Health and Justice Research Unit at the University of Cape Town and the Women’s Legal Centre last week was based on inaccurate information and quotes taken out of context, Justice CM Somyalo of the Eastern Cape High Court Division wrote in the Sunday Times yesterday.

The report offers examples of judges failing to hand down the minimum sentence for those convicted of rape, and showing a lack of sensitivity for rape victims.

Somyalo writes that details on Judge Jeremy Pickering, who according to the report, sentenced a man to 15 years for raping his six-year-old daughter, and then saying the man acted “on the spur of the moment,” was taken out of context.

Rape Victims Face Further Injustice in the Courts

A new report by the Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit at the University of Cape Town says that many judges fail to impose minimum mandatory sentences against rapists and use “flimsy excuses” to avoid handing down harsher sentences.

Legally, rapists should be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison when the victim is raped more than once or is younger than 16.

- Judge Jeremy Pickering sentenced a man to 15 years last year for raping his six-year-old daughter. The judge said the man acted “on the spur of the moment”.

-Judge AJ Visser sentenced Joseph Ntuli to eight years, with four years suspended, for raping a 14-year-old girl twice. In the 2003 sentencing, Judge Visser said the victim, “being the pretty girl she is, might have brought out the animal in the accused”.

-Judge Hendrick Musi sentenced a man to an effective 13 years for raping five girls under the age of 16. He said the rapist “intended no harm other than to satisfy his sexual lust”. [Sunday Times]

Protesters wear miniskirts to rally against assault

The taxi drivers allegedly poured alcohol over her head, stripped her naked, and sexually assaulted her, all because she was wearing a miniskirt, according to media reports. But yesterday, hundreds of people rallied on behalf of 25-year-old Nwabisa Ngcukana and in support of those who have received similar treatment at the Noord Street taxi rank in Johannesburg.

Students Threaten Rainbow Image

The video invokes painful historical imagery — older and larger black women dressed in maids uniforms, sitting on their knees before several 20-something white men. Speaking in Afrikaans, the men call the women whores, and the women call the men master, a term blacks were forced to use during apartheid when addressing whites. Duped into thinking that they are competing in a South African take on “Fear Factor,” the women play rugby, a popular Afrikaner sport, dance, and eat stew laced with urine — all on tape.