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“My ma, my ma. Help my.”
Those were the words Anene Booysen was screaming from her hospital bed.
She had been raped. All her fingers and both of her legs were broken. Her throat had been slit and her vagina cut. Her intestines were ripped out of her and lay next to her on the bed and a broken bottle was still lodged inside her.
Yet the 17 year-old girl managed to tell her foster mother that five or six men attacked her and she named two of her attackers. One of them was known to her. After telling her mom that she was cold, tired and sore, she died of her injuries.
Yesterday all charges were dropped against one of the accused. A man whom witnesses saw at the bar with her the night she died. One of the men she had named.
Yet the National Prosecuting Authority stated that "The investigation revealed there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.”
When the obvious public backlash hit over this travesty of justice the Head of Communication of the NPA, Balelwa Makeke tweeted:
“#AneneBooysen 'rather free 100 ppl guilty of a crime, than wrongly prosecute 1 person for a crime they did not commit'. Saw that somewhere”
Let me state this clearly: I don’t believe in convicting innocent people. I don’t believe in lynch mobs or vigilantism. But as more and more rapists and murderers walk free, or are given sentences so light that it’s an insult to their victims, I don’t blame people who do feel that matters need to be taken into their own hands. Not anymore.
With every South African woman standing a 40% chance of getting raped in her lifetime it’s time we put our foot down. We deserve protection from the state. Anene deserves justice. And so does every other victim of crime.
Instead, it seems the police and the state have made an utter mess of her case. Add to this Ms. Makeke’s self-righteous shoulder-shrugging attitude, and the message we’re being sent is clear: A big, fat, middle finger of “the police can’t protect our citizens and the NPA doesn’t care.”
This is a kick in the face to every survivor of rape and violence and a message of contempt to every person who’s ever lost a loved one to crime. This is saying that even if you survive the worst gang-rape, torture and mutilation imaginable long enough to name your attackers before you die in shock and agony, they will still walk free.
Because there wasn’t sufficient evidence.
Well I want to know why. I am demanding transparency from the SAPS. I want to know EXACTLY what happened during the investigation. I want to know what was done to collect evidence, what questioning methods were used, whether the crime scene was handled professionally and whether DNA was collected, both from the area and from her broken body. I want to know who the coroner was and I want to know what the investigating officer has to say about this. I want to know what the other accused is saying.
As for Ms. Makeke's comment I just want to say, rest assured ma'am, more than a hundred criminals are walking free. Why don’t you start focusing on them?
What are your questions for the SAPS and NPA? Tell us and we'll put together a missive to them.
Follow Lili on Twitter.
Those were the words Anene Booysen was screaming from her hospital bed.
She had been raped. All her fingers and both of her legs were broken. Her throat had been slit and her vagina cut. Her intestines were ripped out of her and lay next to her on the bed and a broken bottle was still lodged inside her.
Yet the 17 year-old girl managed to tell her foster mother that five or six men attacked her and she named two of her attackers. One of them was known to her. After telling her mom that she was cold, tired and sore, she died of her injuries.
Yesterday all charges were dropped against one of the accused. A man whom witnesses saw at the bar with her the night she died. One of the men she had named.
Yet the National Prosecuting Authority stated that "The investigation revealed there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.”
When the obvious public backlash hit over this travesty of justice the Head of Communication of the NPA, Balelwa Makeke tweeted:
“#AneneBooysen 'rather free 100 ppl guilty of a crime, than wrongly prosecute 1 person for a crime they did not commit'. Saw that somewhere”
Let me state this clearly: I don’t believe in convicting innocent people. I don’t believe in lynch mobs or vigilantism. But as more and more rapists and murderers walk free, or are given sentences so light that it’s an insult to their victims, I don’t blame people who do feel that matters need to be taken into their own hands. Not anymore.
With every South African woman standing a 40% chance of getting raped in her lifetime it’s time we put our foot down. We deserve protection from the state. Anene deserves justice. And so does every other victim of crime.
Instead, it seems the police and the state have made an utter mess of her case. Add to this Ms. Makeke’s self-righteous shoulder-shrugging attitude, and the message we’re being sent is clear: A big, fat, middle finger of “the police can’t protect our citizens and the NPA doesn’t care.”
This is a kick in the face to every survivor of rape and violence and a message of contempt to every person who’s ever lost a loved one to crime. This is saying that even if you survive the worst gang-rape, torture and mutilation imaginable long enough to name your attackers before you die in shock and agony, they will still walk free.
Because there wasn’t sufficient evidence.
Well I want to know why. I am demanding transparency from the SAPS. I want to know EXACTLY what happened during the investigation. I want to know what was done to collect evidence, what questioning methods were used, whether the crime scene was handled professionally and whether DNA was collected, both from the area and from her broken body. I want to know who the coroner was and I want to know what the investigating officer has to say about this. I want to know what the other accused is saying.
As for Ms. Makeke's comment I just want to say, rest assured ma'am, more than a hundred criminals are walking free. Why don’t you start focusing on them?
What are your questions for the SAPS and NPA? Tell us and we'll put together a missive to them.
Follow Lili on Twitter.
