Yesterday I watched SABC news (as I often do). Almost every
evening a number of court cases are reported. Of course the most famous:
Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison for the culpable homicide (manslaughter) of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
according to Channel 4 (where one can get the whole story).
Another well-known case is about Shrien Dewani who allegedly
plotted to murder his wife, Swedish Anni Dewani, on their honey moon in
Gugulethu, Cape Town in 2010. This case is still on. The Guardian have more on this.
The worst case, however, I saw yesterday. Ntokozo Hadebe was
sentenced to nine life sentences plus 15 years. That amounts to 240 years. I
cannot believe it. I mean, the sentence is probably fair. But how can a person
do so much evil? He raped and killed three children in Diepsloot. Enca gives
the full story.
Those three cases are definitely different. Shrien Dewani is
not even found guilty, hence he is innocent. Pistorius was not sentenced to
murder but the lower culpable homicide. Hadebe is sentenced and found guilty to
such an extent that he will never become a free man.
This evokes a number of questions but one is nagging me: how
can a person end up like this? What does forgiveness and reconciliation mean,
when we talk about somebody who has committed this kind of atrocities?
I will not try to answer them. The parents of the murdered
will never get their children back. It is probably unbearable. I am praying
that they will find strength.
But I also pray that those who are either accused or
sentenced will find some mercy, somewhere. I pray that prison warders will be
able to show some sort of empathy.
Lord, have mercy!
