Tuesday 3 July 2012

Damage and Justice

This morning I read an article in The Namibian newspaper about a rape appeal that backfired on a rapist. The accused ended up getting more jail time for his crime than his original conviction.

"Awesome!" I thought. "That's the way it should be done."
In fact, if that's what happened this time around and if that's what could happen every time, then please, rapists, appeal to have your cases overturned and get more jail time. Because you know what? That jail time ends eventually anyway, but the damage that was done to the person that was raped, well, that's a sentence that lasts a lifetime.


Whether suffering with it or living with it, when shopping, being out with friends, playing with my child, spending time with my husband, talking to my mother, even sitting at work in a meeting or talking to a client, watching the races at Tony Rust race track, doesn't matter what. Where ever I am, whatever I'm doing, my sentence goes on and is with me.

Which brings me to another point.
When woman that have NOT been raped claim that they HAVE been raped.
Ooh, I get SO FURIOUS, enraged even, when I hear about cases like that. Aside from the fact that it is grossly unfair to the man involved and that such a claim will always taint the name of that man, even if found to be innocent. What really gets my blood boiling so much more, is that these women don't get that they are adding further insult to serious injury to women that have been raped.

Despite the case I mention above, woman are not always treated with care and the required delicacy when laying a complaint of rape against a man that has, in fact, raped her. And though part of this is simply because there are people that don't care and do what they do (as police or counsellors or nurses) simply to earn a living, it is also because of these false accusations. It encourages those in positions of authority to question victims of sexual violence. When they don't trust that a woman has really been attacked, they couldn't be bothered to handle the situation as carefully and with the compassion that they should be.

And what about us woman that have evolved from being victims to survivors. It's a slap in the face to the pain and anguish that we have worked through, that we have had to face and fight. It's an insult to the realization that things will never be the same and the strength required to learn to live with that.

It is partly because of this behavior displayed by these selfish, stupid and arrogant woman that there are men out there that still believe they can get away with rape. They read about it and see how other men (who are actually innocent) where not convicted of a rape charge, and so they think that "well, if I ever get caught one day, I could actually get away with it".

Because, yes, once a rapist, always a rapist. If a man can do it once, he can keep doing it, and usually they do, until they are caught. Only to have the victim be placed in the position of having to convince the courts and authorities that she WAS raped, while the criminal bastard sits back, hardly having to fight back at all.

So, anyway, thank goodness, some proper justice has finally been shown by extending a rapists sentence. They should actually just put all rapists away for life, they don't deserve the chance of an end to their sentence. Let their sentences be lifelong, as ours are.

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